Sari's Life as a Transformer
by FictionFan1024
Summary: Did you know that Sari wasn't always a Technorganic? Once in her mid-20s she learned what it was like to be a full-blown Transformer, if only temporarily. This story explores that short chapter of her life.
1. Chapter 1

**Sari had an interesting adventure in her mid-20s! She was working as a member of Optimus' team, and still a gakusei under Jazz. There was a Decepticon attack on Farside Beacon One, and the team was called to the moon to assist.**

**Bumblebee and his bots had neared completion of a nuclear power plant which would have supplied energy for an important expansion. The Decepticon ship had plans to destroy the power plant, and were heading towards it when Optimus' team arrived.**

"Jazz! Sari! Protect the power plant! Arcee and I will go after the ship in the Ark-32!" said Optimus.

Jazz transformed into his alt mode car, and Sari powered up the plasma thrusters on her pedes and servos and flew towards the power plant ahead of the Decepticon ship.

Optimus piloted the Ark-32 and fired the starfield missile launcher at the Decepticon ship, but their ship contained a surprise: a special phase shifter device courtesy of Swindle; rather than striking, the missile passed harmlessly straight through and landed far away on the lunar surface. The Decepticons then fired their missile at the power plant.

Sari arrived first at the power plant. "Sensei! I can use my P-O-M to deflect the missile!"

"No, Sari! Wait for me! Do not attempt to deflect it all by yourself!"

"It's coming sensei! We don't have a choice!" She positioned herself between the incoming missile and the plant.

Crouching down in her lotus position, she began to meditate. "O Prowl, help me!" she thought. The missile appeared over the horizon, but it began to shudder. It zoomed overhead past Jazz. "Oh, Sari!" he said to himself, and from a distance, he tried to help with his P-O-M.

Sari's eyes were closed, but she could feel the approaching missile. "If I cannot stop it, I can at least slow it down," she said to herself. "P-O-M, P-O-M, P-O-M…"

The nose of the missile began deflecting down, away from the power plant – unfortunately, it deflected right towards Sari! Instead of hitting the power plant, it landed and exploded in front of her.

"Great Cybertron!" exclaimed Optimus, observing the white blast from his ship. "Jazz! Where is Sari?"

Jazz rushed as fast as he could to the site of the explosion. He transformed into his bipedal mode. "Optimus! Land immediately! Sari is severely wounded!"

Optimus landed the Ark-32, and contacted the base. "Farside! Requesting immediate medical assistance! Sari is wounded! Repeat! Requesting immediate medical assistance!"

Bumblebee heard the communication. "Oh no! Sar!" He transformed and sped out onto the lunar surface. On the way he communicated with Jazz. "Jazz, what's her condition?"

"Bad, Bee, really bad. We need to get her to Cybertron, stat!"

"Optimus, you and Arcee continue your pursuit of the Decepticon ship. Bumblebee and I will get Sari to Cybertron," said Jazz.

"Acknowledged, Jazz," and Optimus returned to the ship.

"Firestar! Prepare the space bridge!" Yelled Bumblebee to Farside Beacon One. "Tell them we have wounded that need immediate medical transport to Cybertron infirmary. Contact Ratchet."

"Acknowledged Bumblebee," said Firestar.

Bee arrived on the scene and saw Sari's condition. "Oh, man, oh man!" he groaned. The blast had torn apart the front of her chassis, exposing her spark chamber. Her left arm and leg were gone; they were lying away in the distance. Also gone was one of her triangular helmet appendages. Her helmet was cracked open and sparking, from the top left down to her mouthplate, and she was leaking energon. She was unconscious.

"Get her into my seat," Bee told Jazz. "I'll get her to Cybertron. "You…you…get the rest of her…and follow me!" he said, his voice breaking.

Bee raced back as fast as he could to the space bridge, and Jazz contacted Arcee. "Arcee, someone needs to reach her father…and let him know."

"I will do that, Jazz," replied Arcee.

Sandstorm botted the space bridge, and had it ready for Bumblebee as he speeded in. He didn't even transform out of alt mode, but drove straight into the orb with Sari inside.

* * *

"Oh, dear Primus," said Ratchet, seeing Sari's condition on the operating table for the first time in the Cybertron Infirmary. "What are her vitals?"

"Barely readable," said Perceptor. "I'm afraid her Spark is in danger of being extinguished. I recommend immediate stasis."

"I agree," said the old bot. "But, with injuries this severe, how long would it take to repair her?"

"Repairs could take up to a stellar cycle, or longer," he replied. "And given that she is a technorganic, replacement parts would take longer to protoform."

"It would be extremely risky to keep her Spark and processor that long in stasis," said Ratchet.

"Agreed," said Perceptor. "However Ratchet, I have an idea we can pursue."

"You know my fondness for her, Perceptor," said Ratchet. "I'm open to just about anything you have in mind. Let's get her in stasis, and then we can talk."

"Agreed." And they set about putting Sari into a safe coma. They then contacted Wheeljack for a quick consultation.

* * *

Quite some time has elapsed since the operation, and Sari began to regain consciousness.

"She's coming to!" said Wheeljack.

Sari blinked her optics. "Where am I?"

"Hey, kiddo. You're on Cybertron, in the Infirmary," said Ratchet. "We almost lost you."

"Oh, hey, Ratchet." She smiled weakly. "How long have I been out? I feel kinda funny."

"It's been two decacycles since they brought you here," said Perceptor. "You were in a very serious condition, and we had to do some extremely radical surgery."

"Ooh, my processor aches a bit, and I feel a little dizzy," said Sari. "Is it OK for me to sit up?"

"Sure, kid," said Ratchet, "but let me help you. Just take it slowly."

The old bot took Sari's servo and putting his free servo behind her back, helped her up. She immediately noticed something strange. "Uh, Ratchet? I think there's something wrong with my optics, 'cause you are looking really small, like you've shrunk, or something."

"No, Sari, nothing's wrong. There's something we have to tell you though," he said.

"What? What's going on?" Sari then noticed her body. Purple armor covered her forearms and shoulders, but her shoulders had a pink stripe running along the inner edge. Her chest was purple, with an Autobot insignia in the middle, and the same pink accents on either side of the insignia. Her pedes were huge, and Autobot armor covered her shins and were the same purple color. Thinking about it, her chassis looked kind of like Bumblebee's - only built for a femme.

"Ratchet?" Confused, she looked up at the three.

"Sari, when they brought you to the infirmary, your injuries were so severe that your Spark was in danger of being extinguished," said Ratchet. "We had to put you into immediate stasis. I worked with Perceptor and together we analyzed your broken chassis and came to the conclusion that we could save you, but the repairs could take at minimum a stellar cycle. We questioned the wisdom of letting your Spark and your processor stay in stasis that long. It was then that we brought Wheeljack in for consultation, and we decided the best thing to do, while we worked on repairing your body, would be to perform a Spark transplant and a processor download into a new protoform."

"Spark transplant? Processor download? Wait – you put me into a new body? But, if this isn't my old body, where is it?"

"I can show it to you in a little bit, Sari," said Ratchet. "But my dear, be prepared, it's pretty broken. When that missile exploded in front of you, it tore open the front of your chassis and blew your left arm and leg off. It also tore off one of your left triangular appendages and cracked open your helmet."

"It will take us some time to put you back together," said Perceptor.

"So what body did you give me?" She asked, looking at herself. "Can I have a mirror, please?"

"Sure kid," said Ratchet, and handed her one. She looked at her helm and face and her optics opened wide. "Whoa! I'm completely different! I almost look like Glyph!" She felt two big bumps on top of her helm and turned the mirror to examine her top. "I have two things up here just like she has," she said.

"What I did, Sari, was take all the mods you currently have, and infuse them into your new protoform," said Wheeljack. "Those appendages on your helmet replicate the encryption capabilities you had in your old body."

"Once I finished infusing the protoform with your mods, Ratchet and Perceptor were able to successfully transplant your Spark and download your processor into it."

"The available protoform that we chose for you had body type 65356-9292-346," said Perceptor, "and it was a femme. "You correctly recognized it; it is the same body type as your friend Bumblebee – or, as you had perceived, Glyph."

"Well, thanks for giving me a femme body!" she said, feeling a little embarrassed. Looking down, she noticed something else: her skirt was gone, replaced by a bikini-type covering like Glyph's, only again, this one was purple, with a pink v-shaped accent. "Gonna have to get used to that!" she sighed to herself. Then, she thought of something.

"Wait a nanoclick," said Sari, looking at the three. "You mean, I'm not a technorganic anymore?"

"Not as long as you're in that body, no, kiddo," said Ratchet. "It was the best decision we could come up with, to keep you alive."

"Now, let's see how well you can get around. Can you get up?" And Ratchet supported her arm to help her stand. Sari got off the recovery room bed and put her new Autobot pedes onto the floor for the first time.

"Whoa! This feels weird! My pedes are a lot bigger, and the armor on my shins, it's way different standing up!" She wobbled a bit.

"It's going to take getting used to. I'll hold on to you, Sari," said Ratchet. "Take a few steps and try walking around."

She tried a few steps, but started to fall. "Yikes!, hold me, Ratchet!"

"I gotcha, kiddo! Don't worry. You'll soon get the hang of it, I promise – doc's honor," he smiled.

"When my original body is repaired, I'll be able to go back into it, right?"

"Yes, of course," said Perceptor. "That is, if you choose it."

"If I choose it? Well, yeah, I think I will, Perceptor. Don't forget, I have a father on Earth, I'm half-human – or was, in my old body, and…oh, my Dad! What's he going to think?"

"I think you are always going to be my beautiful daughter, Sari, no matter who you are" said a voice behind the bots. They stepped away, and Sari looked – down – to see Isaac standing there.

"Daddy! Oh, Daddy!" She tried walking toward him, and stumbled.

"Oh, be careful, Sari!" said Wheeljack, and grabbed her before she fell on her father.

Isaac had to take a few steps back, feeling the floor shake with Sari's stumble. "Oh, please, be careful, my dear! Don't fall on me!"

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Daddy, I've got to be more careful! Oh geez! Oh geez!" She took a few steps back and with Wheeljack's help, knelt down before him. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry! I'm not used to this new body. Please be patient with me." She reached down and put her servo on the floor for him to step on. He got on and she lifted him up.

"Of course, my dear," he replied, holding on to her thumb. "I'm just so happy they were able to save you! Now you realize, I'm afraid you won't fit in your room in Sumdac Tower," he smiled.

"Yeah, and I'll probably scare Sparky," she laughed.

"By the way, you've got some other friends here who want to say hello," said Isaac, gesturing to the infirmary door.

"Well, kiddo, let the three of us leave, so your friends can enter," said Ratchet. I'll be in later on to give you a checkup – an Autobot checkup, that is. I'm glad you're doing well."

"As we all are," said Wheeljack. "Take care of yourself, Sari."

"And we will continue to work on your damaged technorganic body, Sari," said Perceptor.

"Later on, let me show it to you," said Ratchet. "It's a pretty nasty sight."

"OK, Ratchet," said Sari. "Thanks." And with that, the three left, giving room for her other visitors.

"Hey, Sar! I hear you got a good deal on a new bod, and you couldn't resist getting the old Bumblebee model! Good choice!"

"Hey Bee!" Sari smiled as he came in.

"So, let's see here…stand up" Sari put her father back down and stood up, and as Bumblebee stood before her, he took the flat palm of his servo to the top of his helm and let it reach across to the top of hers, so he could measure the height of the two of them. "Hmm. I'd say I'm the taller one, Sar!"

"Hey, wait a minute! You included your horns!" Sari laughed.

"Well, you've got those, those – what are those thingies?"

"Encryption mods. Let's leave them off, and your horns off. Helm to helm – who's taller, eh?"

"I'd say you're both the same height," came a voice from the doorway.

"Sensei!"

"Oh, Sari, so good to see you back with us!" Jazz entered the room.

"Sari bowed to him. Thank you for coming, Sensei."

"Sari, thank YOU for using you P-O-M to stop that missile. You nearly surrendered your Spark! We were extremely worried."

"Oh, Sar, when I saw you there, I put you into my alt mode and rushed you here to Cybertron," said Bee.

"Alt mode? ALT MODE!" said Sari, excited. She looked at Bee and Jazz. If I'm a full Autobot now and not a technorganic, does that mean my T-Cog can transform me into a car?"

Jazz and Bumblebee looked at each other. "I don't see why not, Sari," said Jazz.

"Oh, Bee, you've gotta show me how to do that!"

"Well, there aren't any cars on the moon, Sar, otherwise I'd be glad to," said Bee. "But I'm sure any of the bots on Earth can show you how."

"Oh yeah, the moon. Forgot about that," she smiled.

"I'll be glad to show you," Jazz said. "Why, we can integrate it into some Cyber-Ninja training - Autobot style."

"Sounds good, Sensei," she replied.

"Is this the recovery room of a new Autobot?" asked Optimus. He and Arcee were at the doorway.

"Yes, sir," said Sari.

"Well, look at you," he said, coming in. "I must say, Sari, this will take some getting used to."

"Me too, sir, me too," she laughed.

"From what Ratchet tells me, it will be your body for a year or so, but no matter what body you have, Sari, it's great to have you with us again."

"I hope this transition won't be too difficult for you, Sari," said Arcee. "We were all so very worried about you. You were so close to joining the Well of AllSparks."

"Thank Primus, Perceptor knew of a way to rescue you," said Optimus.

"So, how's the body feel, Sar? It's a good model, if I do say so myself," he said, looking in a floor-length mirror and preening.

"It's gonna take a lot of getting used to," she said. "Right now, I am so NOT used to the sizes of things. My dad's too tiny," she said, looking at him, "and I'm having a hard time believing that I can actually stand and see you guys almost optic-to-optic." She then looked at Bumblebee, and remarked "Well, optic-to-optic in Bee's case," she winked.

"Hey! I'm still taller!"

"Some things never change," sighed Optimus. Sari giggled.

"But now, when I get back to the moon or to earth, I'm so worried that I'll be the one who might step on a human!"

"We'll help you, Sari," said Arcee, "don't worry about that. Before long, you'll be just fine."

"And also, my friends on Earth, like Sam, Mikaela and the others. What will they think of me? I guess trips to the Mall are out now," she sat back down and sighed, feeling a little dejected.

"There will be adjustments, it's true," said Arcee. "But hey, once you've got your alt mode, you can give them rides," she smiled.

"Heh! That's true Arcee," said Sari, feeling a little better.

Ratchet came back in. "OK, let's let Sari rest up a bit, she's got a lot of recuperating to do," he said, and escorted the group out of the recovery room. After everyone said goodbye, he asked Sari if she would like to see her old body.

"If you're ready," he warned her.

"Let's go," she said, and Ratchet helped her walk down the hallway to a special section of the infirmary where they care for extremely damaged bots. "This is the area where we cared for Ultra Magnus after his injuries," said the old bot, "so your body is in good hands." He opened the door where her body was being kept in stasis and led her in.

"Oh…my gosh!" She turned her helm and looked away, shutting her optics.

"I warned you it was a bad sight," Ratchet said. "You absorbed the full impact of that blast. If it wasn't for your P-O-M powers, you would have been completely disintegrated, I'm sure.

"It's not just that, Ratchet," she said, her face registering pain and anguish, "it's the feelings of, of looking at your own body! It's scary and creepy, and just plain upsetting, and then, to see it in this condition."

"I know, kiddo, I know," he said, patting her on the arm. "You want to leave?"

"Well, no, not yet. I think I'm OK," she said, approaching her body for a closer look.

"Oh, man! Look at my chest!"

"Yes, had the blast penetrated another nanohic, it would have blown your Spark Chamber away, for sure."

"And my arm and leg; where are they?"

"Bumblebee brought your body here. Jazz fetched up what parts of you he could find and carried them here a little bit later. Your arm and leg are over there on the right, sitting on that counter, next to your triangular appendage. Perceptor will be in charge of reassembling you."

"I must have been leaking energon, too."

"You left quite a bit on the floor of Bumblebee's car," said Ratchet. "By the time you got here, we had to do an emergency energon transfusion. That at least brought your vitals up to the point where we could put you in stasis."

Sari turned and gave Ratchet a big hug. "Thank you so much for saving me, Ratchet!" she cried.

He hugged her back. "Not just me kiddo, not just me. Thank Bumblebee for getting you here stat, thank Perceptor for his idea about transplanting you into the protoform, and thank Wheeljack for the mod implants. We all did what we could."

**Anyway, I think this story might wind up being a short one. I was just wondering what it would be like if Sari had to become a full-blown Autobot, if only temporarily. This book will explore her life, adjusting to the change, learning how to cope, experiencing her friends' reactions, etc. Then, once her body has been repaired, going back to her old self, and learning how to get used to ****that****, again! I figure it ought to be an interesting story. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**It's time for Sari to leave the Infirmary and return to Earth. She's a little nervous about how her friends will react to her new body, but also excited about learning how to use it – especially about how to scan a car and transform!**

"Well, Sari, your Autobot therapy is complete," said Ratchet. "It's time for you and me to return to Earth. Ready?"

"A little bit nervous," she replied. "I mean, I'm still unsure how my human friends will react. And, since I can't live in Sumdac Tower while I'm in this body, where will I stay?"

"Oh, no concerns there, my dear," said the old bot. "Optimus has already made arrangements for you to stay at Autobot Central. We've got a nice Autobot-sized room there waiting for you," he smiled.

"Oh, that's good," she said. Still, Sari felt a little down, knowing she'll miss her old room. "Autobots don't know about nice, silky sheets and fluffy pillows," she sighed to herself.

They left the infirmary, and Sari had a chance to go and thank all of the staff members who cared for her: the occupational therapy bots that helped her relearn how to walk, run, jump, and use the other parts of her new body, the energon nutrition bot who gave her instructions on the daily intake requirements for a bot of her size; and especially Perceptor and Wheeljack, who with Ratchet, pulled her back from the brink of joining the Well of AllSparks.

Stepping out with Ratchet into the streets of Cybertron, Sari looked out at the buildings. "Again, things look smaller," she chuckled. "I know it's to be expected, since I'm now about five times bigger than I was, but it's still a strange feeling."

"Hey, you're lucky they didn't give you a protoform with Bulkhead's body type!"

"Oh yikes! Could you imagine me in his huge body?" Sari laughed at the thought. "Say, speaking of Bulky, did anyone tell him what happened to me?"

"Well, as you know, he's been away, working on a project over in the Falcon Nexus. The network in that corner of the Autobot Commonweath's a little spotty, but we sent him a communiqué, so I'm sure he learned about your accident. There's no space bridge there, so I wouldn't be surprised if he jumped on the first Autobot ship to get back here ASAP."

"I'll bet he'll be walking in to Autobot Central in the next solar cycle or two, asking about you."

The two Autobots arrived at Spacebridge central. "Ready, Sari? We'll be landing on the roof of Sumdac Tower. Your dad is at the controls."

Sari gulped. "Let's go!" And they jumped into the blue orb.

"Welcome home, my Sari!" said Isaac, as Ratchet and Sari landed.

"Hi Dad!" Sari bent down to offer a digit to her father. "It's nice to be back."

"And thank you, Ratchet, for bringing my daughter home," Isaac said to the old bot.

"My pleasure, Professor," he replied.

Sari absentmindedly started walking towards the elevator to the residential section, then stopped herself. "Whoops! Not that way," she said, a little embarrassed.

"Over here," motioned Ratchet, and they walked over to the Autobot/freight elevator.

"I will see you later, my dear!" said Isaac, waving goodbye.

"Bye Daddy! I love you!" as their elevator descended down to street level.

"Goodbye, my Sari," sighed Isaac, as he walked alone into the private elevator. "I hope it won't be a very long year; I will miss our dinners here together, and our Burger Bot lunches." As he exited the elevator and stepped into the residential area, the home computer said, "Welcome home, Professor Sumdac. The robo-chef will have dinner ready in one hour. How many servings?"

"Just one, please," he said sadly, and walked into the living room.

Stepping out into the street, Sari took a long look around. "Wow! It looks like a toy version of Detroit!"

Ratchet transformed into his ambulance, then realized that Sari doesn't yet know how to transform – much less have an alt-mode! "Oh yeah, heh, forgot about that!" and transformed back into his bipedal mode. "Sorry, kiddo, I forgot. Let's walk to Autobot Central – at our size, it's not that far."

"Um, OK, but keep an eye on me, please," said Sari. "I don't want to step on anyone!"

"Oh, don't worry – I'll make sure we stay on streets with as few people as possible. Stay behind me." And off they went. Sari kept walking slowly, looking down, taking care with every step. Pedestrians and people in cars gawked at the sight of two Autobots strolling through downtown Detroit. Sari saw them looking at her and felt very self-conscious.

Ratchet sighed. "Sari, it's gonna take us forever to get there at the rate you're going. Let's pick up the pace, shall we?"

"OK, Ratchet," and she started walking faster – except soon afterwards, she accidentally stepped on a car! "Oh no! I knew this would happen, Ratchet! Look what I did! Oh man!"

Ratchet did a facepalm. He got on his comm. "Optimus, little situation. We're in downtown Detroit, making our way to Autobot Central. Yes, Sari and me. She accidentally stepped on someone's car – can you please let Captain Fanzone know? Yes, we'll wait for him."

He got off the comm. "Captain Fanzone's on his way and he'll write up a report. Let's stay here and wait for him."

Sari was very upset, and sat on a nearby dumpster. "I ruined this poor guy's car! I'm just a stupid, clumsy bot! I'll never get the hang of this!"

"Sari, stop it! It's my fault! I shouldn't have rushed you, I'm sorry. And you will get the hang of it! For Primus' sake, young bot, this is your first day here!"

"Now, get up off that dumpster, you're embarrassing me. Here comes Captain Fanzone."

The Police Chief arrived and surveyed the scene. "Alright, what did you machines do this time?" He looked at the flattened automobile. "What the? Now look – you don't turn cars into pancakes in my town, understood?"

"It was an accident, Captain," said Ratchet. "We were headed towards Autobot Central, and…"

"I stepped on the car, Captain," said Sari. "It's my fault. I'm very sorry. I will be more careful in the future, I promise."

"You? And who are you? I've never seen you before!"

"Sari Sumdac," she replied.

"Sumdac? No way! Sari's about yay high," he said putting his hand to his chest. "You? You're up to a, a telephone pole!"

"Sari's body got blown apart defending the lunar site," said Ratchet. "We had to temporarily transfer her into an Autobot body while we fix up her old one."

"Huh?" Puzzled, Fanzone looked away from Ratchet then back up at this purple bot. "You mean…?" He rubbed his combover, and doing a sweep of his other hand from Sari's helm to pedes, he remarked, "You, you're Sari? The one who saved Somer Mall?" She nodded.

Flabbergasted, Fanzone sighed. "OK, look," he said, turning back to Ratchet. "As long as you Autobots will cover this guy's replacement, I'll take care of everything else." He then pointed a finger at Sari. "But I want you to try to figure out how to do a better job of walking around in that big robot body you're currently occupying, you got me?"

"Yes, sir," replied Sari.

"Alright then. Let's not step on anything else today!" And he got back in his car and drove off.

"OK, Miss Sumdac, we're almost there. I'll go at your speed," said Ratchet. And off they went.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this," Sari said.

"Told you it wasn't hard!"

"Can I tell you something, Ratchet?"

"Of course, Sari!"

"It was weird, looking way down at Captain Fanzone, when before, he was taller than me." She sighed, "I can't wait until I get more comfortable in this huge body."

"You and me both, Miss Sumdac, you and me both."

* * *

They stepped into Autobot Central. "Well, here's your home for the next year or so," said Ratchet.

Arcee was waiting for her at the doorway. "Welcome, Sari! Optimus asked me to get your room ready for you. Come on in." And she led the new Autobot down the hallway to Sari's new quarters. Arcee had asked Isaac to give her some of the things from Sari's room in Sumdac Tower and had set them up for her, including an old friend.

"Sparky!" Sari yelled, seeing her pet. Sparky came running toward her, giving a robot bark and wagging his little doggy tail.

"I asked your father to program him to recognize your new body," said Arcee, smiling.

Sari sat on her Autobot bed and lowered her servo to let Sparky jump on. She lifted him up and he gave happy little doggy sounds. "Oh, thank you, Arcee, thank you!" Sari beamed. "You're the most thoughtful bot!" Sari looked around her quarters and saw the other familiar things: her jukebox, her stuffed animals, and her posters. "This is awesome!"

"I'm so glad," said Arcee. "Your father and I wanted to make sure that your transition would be as worry-free as possible. I'll let him know you approve!"

"Well, I'll let you get settled in. The rest of the team would like to meet you over in the living area in about 15 cycles," and Arcee headed out.

"Well, Sparky, what do you think?" she asked him. He barked approval. "Although, the bed's not as soft, that's for sure," she said, rapping her knuckles on the hard Autobot surface. "Oh well, not like we bots need comfy mattresses, anyway." She lay down to test out the size, stretching her pedes down to the end and putting her servos behind her helm, lacing her digits. "Fits me well, at least. I can get used to this. Let's check out the rest of the room." At one end was an Autobot-size desk and chair with a reading lamp and workstation. The monitor had an Autobot insignia for a screen saver. "Eh, not bad, but I'm definitely gonna change that to something else." Across on the other wall were shelves for things. Arcee had placed some of her stuffed animals there. And on the wall near the doorway were some posters, but her favorite, the kitty "Hang in there" poster, Arcee had placed above her bed. Sari smiled at that little touch.

While she was walking around inspecting her quarters, her pedes felt the ground shaking. "What the…?" and she went to the doorway to see what it might be. Just as she peeked out, she spied a certain giant green Autobot rushing by. "Bulky!" she yelled.

"Huh?" said Bulkhead. "Oh, hi, miss. Sorry, can't talk. I'm in a real hurry. I've gotta go. My best friend's been hurt real bad! I gotta find out where she is and what happened to her!"

"Bulky! It's me! Sari!"

Bulkhead slammed on the brakes. "What? Who? Sari? No! My friend is a little bitty technorganic named Sari Sumdac!"

"Bulky, I AM Sari Sumdac! They gave me a new body!"

That got him really confused! "What?...Sari? Is that really you?"

She stepped out into the hall and held out her arms for a hug. "It's really me, Bulky! Let me prove it to you: I was there with you on the lunar surface when we were looking up at the stars. You plopped down to look at them with me and made my rock bounce!"

"Sari! It IS you!" He ran to her and picked her up to give her a big hug.

"Oooh, not too tight, Bulky!"

He put her down. "Oh, sorry, sorry! I'm just so glad you're OK! When I got that message, I dropped everything and got on the first ship and told them to take me to Earth and it took a really long time because there wasn't a space bridge and I was walking back and forth, back and forth on the ship because I was so worried about you and everybody kept telling me 'Sit down, Bulkhead! Sit down, Bulkhead!' but I couldn't, and when it landed here I ran to Autobot Central to ask where you were, and couldn't find anyone and ran down the hallway and the first bot I saw was a purple one who yelled Bulky and…"

He stopped and looked at her again. "What happened to you?"

Sari laughed. "Long story, Bulky! But I'm due to report in the living area, so let's head on over there and I can explain."

"Oh, OK." And they walked down the hallway as Sari relayed what had happened to cause her to be put into a purple Autobot body.

They entered the living area, and waiting for them were Optimus, Ratchet, Jazz, Glyph, Tap-Out, and Arcee.

"Welcome home, Sari!" said Optimus. And everyone gave a cheer!

"Hi, everyone! Thanks for the warm welcome. Look who I found!" and behind her came Bulkhead.

"Well, Bulkhead, welcome back to Earth!" said Optimus. "I take it you got our communiqué?"

"I did, and good thing I found this purple Sari, otherwise I might have jumped on the space bridge for Cybertron, looking for the little Sari!" Everyone laughed!

They all had a great time! Glyph and Sari posed side-by-side, and everyone remarked how glad they were that Perceptor had chosen a different color scheme for Sari's armor!

Sari and Jazz chatted about her training. "In a way, Sari, I'm glad to have you here at Autobot Central," said Jazz. "You can rise a little later in the morning than when you stayed at Sumdac Towers, since all you have to do is come down the hallway."

"Hey, that's true," Sari happily replied.

"Of course," he grinned, "now that you're here, I could start earlier…" and when she registered an "oh no!" expression, he said "just teasing, Sari, just teasing."

"Whew!" she remarked.

"And I told Jazz the first order of business is to get you an alt mode and start transforming, because when I say "Autobots, roll out!", I expect to see you with us, Sari," said Optimus.

"Oh yes, sir!" said Sari, excited.

"Did they go over how to use your mods in therapy?" asked Jazz.

"No, Sensei, just the basics of walking, running, and jumping, as well as proper energon intake."

"Understood. Come to think of it, that would make sense, since bots who are transplanted into a new body already know how to use their mods," said Jazz.

"You're right, Jazz. It's part of their young bot training. It's what I did when I was a teacher," said Arcee.

"Arcee, why don't you and Jazz, work with her on it? It's likely that her mods work differently in this body than they did in her technorganic body," said Optimus.

"Sounds good, Optimus. So Sari, after Jazz has got you transforming, the three of us will work together to make sure you can control all your mods in this new body just like you did before," said Arcee. "That way, when you're called to 'roll out', you will be a fully functional Autobot."

"Sounds good, Arcee. I will look forward to it," said Sari.

"We will start tomorrow morning then, Sari. First thing, you and I will locate a suitable vehicle for you to choose for your alt mode."

"Thank you, Sensei!" said Sari.

"Now, remember your boot camp, Sari? As a technorganic, Tracks Minor made you do transformations between 'bot' and 'human' while your Autobot platoon members transformed into their alt modes. It is very important in battle for an Autobot to be able to go from bipedal mode to alt mode quickly."

"We will also be doing similar transforming drills."

Sari gulped, remembering boot camp! "Yes, Sensei," she replied.

* * *

The next day, Sari and Jazz left Autobot Central and walked down the street. "Let's find a vehicle for you to scan," he told her.

They came upon an old van. "This one will do," he said.

"That old clunker?! Sensei, there's got to be another one somewhere!" Sari protested.

Jazz chuckled. "Sari, we just need this to get you trained on using your Autobot T-cog to scan and transform. We Autobots don't just scan once and that's it – or was that what you thought?"

"I wasn't sure," she replied. "All of the bots I know, like Bee, always kept their original alt forms."

"That's because they chose to. Autobots can scan and re-scan as many times as they wish. Think about it: a bot in intelligence work would probably scan dozens of times during a mission, changing alt forms regularly, to keep the enemy off their tracks."

"Oh!" Sari replied.

"We're going to use this car so you can learn how to scan and transform. Then, you and I will drive over to a new car dealership on the other side of town. The owner is a friend of your father's. He will let us in to his lot, and you can select your preferred alt mode. Once you've found one, you can re-scan and use that one."

"Don't worry, Sari, I wouldn't let you have this be your one and only alt form!"

"Thank you, Sensei!" Sari felt much better.

"So, let us begin. Start by looking at this van and concentrating."

Sari stood near the old van and looked at it. She concentrated, and a message came to her processor from her T-cog: "Vehicle sighted: scan?"

"Cool!" she thought. She gave the T-cog permission to scan, and a green light emitted from her optics, which scanned the van from front to end. Next, the T-cog sent the message: "Armor re-positioning", and she got the weirdest feeling, as parts of her Autobot body began shifting around slightly.

"Oooh, that felt strange!"

"That's normal, Sari," said Jazz. Your body was re-positioning itself according to the vehicle you just scanned, in preparation for transforming to your alt mode. It will do that each time, so be prepared."

"OK, now you are ready. Now, transforming is just like using one of your mods. You just think of it and it happens. Give it a try."

Sari gave a thought to transforming, in the same way she had when she was going to use one of her mods. Immediately, she began to feel like she was falling forward. "Whoa!" she yelled. But then, where once there had been a purple Autobot, there was now an old van, which looked exactly like the one she had just scanned.

"Did I do it?" she asked.

"Well, how do you feel?" asked Jazz.

"I feel really weird," she replied. "Hey! I'm seeing in five different directions at the same time!"

"You are seeing through your headlights, your rear view mirror, and your outside mirrors," said Jazz. "And you are speaking out of your dashboard. Open your doors."

Sari opened and closed all of her doors, one at a time. "Wow! This is neat!"

"You control all of the parts of your alt mode, such as the hood, the radio, the steering, the brakes, the transmission, and the accelerator. You can…"

"Honk! Honk!"

"Yes, Sari, you have a horn."

[car alarm]

"…and a car alarm…"

"Now, to get back to our training…to return to bipedal mode, you just give the thought. Go ahead and return."

And Sari thought about returning to bipedal mode, and she felt like she was rising up from a kneeling position. A second later, and she was back standing next to Jazz.

"That was awesome!"

"Now, that will be your alt mode until you re-scan. How do you feel like driving?"

"Oh, yes! Let's do it!"

"There's an empty lot across from Autobot Central, so we can practice there. Follow me." And Jazz transformed and drove into the lot. Sari transformed and drove behind him. They spent the next hour drilling on turns, stopping, starting, proper use of the mirrors, and driving in reverse.

"Sari, one other lesson you need before we can drive out into everyday traffic. Can you guess what that might be?"

"Rules of the road?"

"Well, yes," he chuckled, "but not what I was thinking. Let me ask you this: how do you think people would react to seeing a driverless car?"

"Oh! That!"

"Yes. Now, along with transforming, your Autobot T-cog has a special mod that gives you a driver hologram. You remember mine?"

"Yes, he's as fancy as your car."

"You can make your hologram up to be whoever you want – use your imagination."

Sari gave it a thought, and placed a hologram image of Porter C. Powell driving her old clunker! "How does this look?"

Jazz turned one of his mirrors to see the image. "Ha! That's a good one for your current alt mode, Sari – I like it!"

With that lesson completed, Jazz felt like they were ready to drive to the dealership.

"Alright, Sari, your father will meet us at the dealership, and the two of them will let us in to this large lot full of brand new automobiles. You can choose which one you want for your alt mode. Let's head on out. Follow me." And they drove out of the lot into downtown traffic. Quite a few heads turned, as they imagined they saw Porter C. Powell driving a beat-up old van through the streets of Detroit!

* * *

Isaac and his friend were waiting outside the new car dealership as Jazz and Sari drove up. They recognized Jazz' fine sports vehicle, but were puzzled at the old van behind him – especially when they saw who was driving it.

"Hold on! Is that…Powell?" asked Isaac.

"Would be hilarious if it was!" said his friend.

The two Autobots transformed, and they realized it was all an illusion. "Sari, did you drive here with an image of Powell sitting behind the wheel of that old car?" Isaac laughed.

"Yep! I needed a driver, so why not?"

"Haw! Perfect!" said his dealership friend. "Hope it's in tomorrow's newspaper!"

"OK folks, come on into my back lot. Sari, pleased to meet you, feel free to choose one of my cars or trucks for your alt mode." And he opened the gate for Jazz and Sari.

They walked around, and looked at all the new models. Sari then spied one she liked. "That's it, Sensei!"

"Nice choice, Sari!" said Jazz.

"One of my best models, Sari. Good color scheme, too!" said Isaac's friend.

Sari had chosen a beautiful dark blue two-door sports car with silver lining and grey interior, and the ultimate in navigational and surround-sound systems.

"Alright. Go ahead to re-scan and transform." Sari repeated the process, and the green light scanned her chosen vehicle. She then transformed, and immediately an exact duplicate of the blue sports car appeared beside the lot model. The only difference between the two was an "Autobot" insignia on the car steering wheel.

"How do I look?" Sari asked through the dashboard.

"You look great, my dear!" said her father.

"So, when Optimus calls 'Autobots, transform and roll out!', you won't mind transforming into this?" asked Jazz, smiling.

"Not at all, Sensei!" responded Sari.

**Sari's got transforming down, now tomorrow she'll relearn how to use her mods in her new Autobot body. And of course, there's the matter of breaking the news to her human friends! Thanks for reading.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sari's got her alt mode, and now she needs to see how her mods work, and get some transformer training.**

"Thank you both for letting us come in and help Sari choose her vehicle," said Jazz to Isaac and his friend.

"My pleasure!" Said the dealer. "Isaac and I are old business pals, and when he got the news that his technorganic daughter was injured, my heart went out to him. I'm so glad the Autobots were able to rescue you, Sari!" he said to her.

"Thank you, sir!" said Sari, speaking from the dashboard of her dark blue sports car.

"And I see," he chuckled, looking at the back of her vehicle, "you copied the logo of my dealership on the rear of your alt mode. Can't complain about that!"

"Alright, Sari, it's time to meet up with Arcee and check out how your mods work in that new body," said Jazz. "Let's head on out. Follow me." And he transformed into his sports car.

"Bye, Dad!" said Sari as she took off with Jazz.

"Bye my dear!" said Isaac.

"Where are we headed, Sensei?" Sari asked Jazz.

"We're going to meet Arcee in a remote location outside of town. It's a training site that Optimus has developed for Autobots. That way, we can work on your mods in a safe environment." Jazz then got on his comm to reach Arcee. "Arcee? Sari and I are en route to the training site."

"Roger, Jazz. On my way. Will meet you there." Responded Arcee.

They were just about to get on the highway, when Jazz noticed a few drivers looking at Sari's car strangely. He then realized the problem. "Sari! You forgot your hologram!"

"Oops!" She quickly turned on a hologram of Detroit's news reporter, Lester Black. "I figure he's a better one to depict than Porter C. Powell," she said.

"Keep in mind, Sari, that you should normally try to use generic figures rather than real people," advised Jazz. "Look in your T-cog's hologram mod. There's a list of generic drivers to choose from – I'd use one of them instead."

"Oh, I see," she replied, and checked the list. Listed as "human" holograms were "young man", "young woman", "old man", "old woman", etc. She chose "young man", and Lester Black was replaced by a generic figure of a young man driving her car.

"That's better, Sari. At least, if Lester happened to come up beside you, he wouldn't risk a traffic incident suddenly seeing his double!"

"That's true," she replied. "I don't want another lecture from Captain Fanzone!"

A blue motorcycle came up from behind the two and began approaching them on the highway.

"Hey, Jazz, I believe I'm pulling up behind you. And is that dark blue sports car Sari?"

Jazz checked his rear view mirror. "Yes Arcee, it's us. Nice to see you!" said Jazz.

"Hi, Arcee!"

"Hello, Sari!" said Arcee, pulling up beside Sari. "Nice set of wheels!"

"Thanks! This is an awesome way to travel!"

"Alright team, our exit is up ahead," said Jazz. "Sari, we'll pull up to the training area and have a stretch, then we can begin working on your mods."

"Sounds, good, Sensei." And the three Autobots turned off the exit and drove towards the training grounds. When they arrived, they transformed into their bipedal modes. Sari stretched. "Aaah! I see what you mean about stretching! That feels good."

Sari looked around the training area. There were stacked oil drums, old junked cars and trucks hanging from chains, and various other pieces of scrap metal and I-beams scattered around a large field. There was also a large obstacle course track that ran the circumference of the field; it looked to be about 3 miles in length.

"Let's start with your orbs," said Jazz. "In your technorganic body, they came out of your palms. Shoot one at that stack of oil drums and let's see how they get formed in this body."

Sari raised her arm to shoot, and something interesting happened. Her servo disappeared inside the armor, and instead, a blaster formed where her servo had been. "Huh! That's different," she remarked.

"It's about what I expected," said Jazz. "Most Autobots don't use their servos for weapons. Instead, our servo goes away and a blaster takes its place. Go ahead and fire."

She aimed the blaster at the oil drums and fired. Just as occurred when she fired orbs with her technorganic body, a blue-white orb shot out and streaked towards the oil drum, disintegrating it on contact.

"Neat!" she said. "Works in the same way, just with a blaster instead of out of my palm."

"Now, you had the ability to form an orb in your palm and keep it there, then throw it at an object. See how that works now."

Sari performed the same processor intention as before when she was a technorganic, and a few centimeters in front of her blaster, a small blue orb began to form and grow. It remained floating in midair in front of the opening of her weapon, and she was able to move her arm about without it falling away.

"I used to be able to make it twirl with my digits," she said. "I wonder if I can still do that." And she tried making it move around. Sure enough, just by thinking of movement, the blue orb began rotating.

"That's fascinating," said Arcee. "Now, are you able to throw it at one of the oil drums?"

"Let me try," she said, and using the same throwing technique that she used in her technorganic body, she cocked her arm and managed to throw the object, letting it "go" at just the right angle so that it made contact at the drum for which she was aiming. It disappeared in a white flash. She then retracted the blaster and brought her servo back.

"Let's try your energy hammer," said Jazz. "Now before, you had only one. I wonder if you've got two now? Give it a try."

Sari tried both arms, and sure enough, both of her servos disappeared, and in their place were two energy hammers! "Cool!" she remarked. "These will come in handy in close combat!"

"Go after one of those hanging trucks, and see what your hammers can do," said Jazz. And Sari did a running attack at the trucks, swinging her hammers. She did a twisting maneuver and hit one, and the electric charges came sparking out of the hammer and made the truck fly off the chains into the field.

"Now, switch to your arm blades and cut up another truck," said Jazz. And she retracted her hammers and her blades came out. She sliced up one of the trucks like butter – pieces fell to the ground.

"How about your skates?" asked Arcee.

"I'll give them a try!" And they popped up from the bottom of her pedes, reaching forward and behind, allowing her to race around the field. "They work just like before!" she said.

"Now, last but not least, Sari, your plasma thrusters. It'll be interesting to see how they work in this body. Let's see," said Jazz.

Sari gave it a thought, and was amazed to see her pedes instantly replaced by jets! They were flanged out so she could still stand. "I can walk OK, but not as easily," as she thumped around the field.

"Sari, I guess they're for flying, not walking," Arcee chuckled.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to try getting around too far like this," she laughed.

Her servos were changed to jets also, but smaller in size.

"Fire them up!" Said Jazz. And Sari took off into the sky. "Whoo hoo!" she yelled.

Jazz contacted her on his comm. "Don't go too far, we just wanted to see how they worked."

While airborne, Sari switched one of her arm jets back to a servo so she could respond on her comm. "Roger, Sensei, coming back."

Landing back where she took off, she had a very satisfied look. "Not too different, you guys!" And she switched her pedes and servos back to normal.

"Any other major mods?" asked Arcee.

"Those are the most important ones. But before we leave, let's do some transformation drills. Sari, let's practice doing a transformation run. Start off running, then in one smooth move, jump, transform and take off in your alt mode."

"Yes, Sensei." And she took off running. Jumping, she transformed, but the landing was very bumpy! Only one wheel made initial contact, and she bounced her car badly before taking off. "Ow! That hurt!"

"You have to transform faster, and think about landing on all four wheels. Watch me." And Jazz ran, jumped, transformed, and landed flawlessly.

He transformed back. "It's even harder for Arcee, since she's a two-wheeler."

"I do it by putting my arms out. Watch," Arcee replied, and began to run. She then put out her arms, and jumping, gracefully transformed in a fluid motion into her motorcycle and took off.

"Now try again Sari, and think: rapid transformation, landing on all four wheels," said Jazz.

Sari transformed back into bipedal mode and tried again. She jumped, transformed quickly, and landed on all four wheels! "I did it!"

"Excellent job, Sari! That's exactly the technique to use."

"Now, the opposite maneuver is much more difficult. Going from your alt mode while racing to bipedal. It's harder because when we transform out of alt mode, we are getting up from a crouched position, so to speak. So when you transform, your momentum will want to make you fall forward. The trick is to go with the kinetic energy and do a complete forward roll, tumbling and landing on your feet. Like this." And Jazz transformed into his sports car and drove a distance away. He then sped towards Sari and Arcee at a high rate of speed. Just before reaching them, he transformed into bipedal mode, did a forward roll, and landed on his pedes.

"When you begin to transform, instead of bringing your helm up, push it down and roll forward. At the same time, tuck you knees in and let your pedes roll you up and over until you do a nearly 360-degree roll, coming all the way around until you land. It's difficult, but you can do it with practice."

"Let me show you how I do mine," said Arcee, and still in alt mode, she drove off at a distance, turned around and headed towards Sari. "Watch me!" And just before she came near Sari, she transformed, and Sari could see how she tucked her helm down, knees in, brought her pedes up and over, and in a final maneuver, landed facing forward.

"Now you give it a try," said Jazz. "Don't worry about not getting it right the first time. If you tumble, you tumble. Pick yourself up and try again."

Sari gulped, and drove off in the distance. "OK, here I come!" and she sped toward her two teachers. She got within a short distance before them, and transformed. She could feel the momentum pulling her helm down, and she tucked down, knees in, trying to pull her pedes over, but wound up splat! On her back, pede first. "Ow! My butt!"

"That's OK, Sari, the first time I tried, I wound up in the exact same position as you," said Jazz. "I landed right on my skidplate – what you just called your 'butt'."

"Do it again, but this time, when you feel the momentum pulling your helm down, give more downward force on your helm, and more upward force on your pedes. That provides enough kinetic force to complete the roll."

She transformed back into her alt mode and tried again. This time when she transformed, she pushed her helm down with greater force and pulled her pedes up. The kinetic force caused her entire body to complete the near 360, and she could feel herself doing the full turn around, until her pedes made contact with the ground! She landed, wobbly, but nonetheless firm. "I did it!" She said happily.

"Good job, Sari!" praised Arcee. "You did it on the second try!"

"Very good! Let's do it one more time, and we'll call it a successful training day," said Jazz. Arcee gave him an "oh, c'mon!" look, but Jazz held firm.

"Yes, Sensei," and Sari transformed back into her alt mode and repeated the maneuver. This time, she managed a perfect, solid landing.

"Excellent!" said Jazz. "Your technique that time was flawless. Store that in your processor, Sari. Today's training is completed."

"Thank you for today's training, Sensei," and Sari bowed to Jazz.

"Well, Sari, the afternoon is young. What are your plans?" asked Arcee.

"I think it's time I contacted my friends," she replied.

"That's a good idea. They need to know what happened to you. I'm sure they will be accepting of your circumstances. Don't forget to offer them rides!"

"I won't," she smiled.

Training ended, Jazz and Arcee drove back to Autobot Central. On the way back to the downtown area, Sari put in a call to Adam.

"Witwicky residence," Adam answered.

"Hi, Adam, this is Sari."

"Hey, Sari! Great to hear from you! You calling from a car? There's no image showing on my video phone."

"Yeah. Hey, I was wondering if you had any time this afternoon. I wanted to stop by; I've got some things I wanted to share with you and Mikaela."

"Sure! We were all going to the Mall later on today. Would you like to come?"

"Hey, I'd love to, but unfortunately, I can't. When we get together, you'll understand why. You see, I was in an accident on the moon, and…well, my 'bot' body got really broken bad, and…they had to give me a temporary one while they fix it up."

"They gave you a temporary body? What does that mean?"

"Well, it's a little hard to explain, but, they don't have any technorganic bodies, so…they had to give me an Autobot body. In fact, well…I'm almost at your house right now. Mind if I stop by?"

"Sure! I'm here with Mikaela. Come on up to the driveway."

"Promise you won't freak out?"

"Um, sure! I promise."

"OK, I'm a dark blue sports car with silver trim."

"OK we're…wait a minute. Did you just say 'I'm a dark blue sports car'?"

"Yep."

"Uh...we'll be outside." And Adam hung up.

"Oh boy, this will be interesting," Sari thought.

Just before pulling up to the Witwicky residence, Sari turned off the hologram. As she pulled up to the house, Adam and Mikaela saw a driverless dark blue sports car with silver trim come up to them.

"Hi guys!" came a voice from the dashboard.

"Uh, Sari?" said Adam. "Are you talking to us from a walkie-talkie or something?"

"No. Remember what I said about my 'bot' body being broken? Well, I was on the moon defending Farside Beacon One from the Decepticons when my body got blasted and blown into several pieces. They rushed me to Cybertron and I almost died. They had to transfer me into an Autobot body while they fixed my technorganic body. So now, for a year or more, I'm a full blown Autobot. Which means, I can transform into a car. The blue sports car you're talking to right now is, well, it's me."

"Hold on," said Mikaela. "Autobots are huge! You mean, you are like, a giant Autobot now?"

"Yep. That's why I wanted to come like this. I was afraid if I came in my bipedal mode first, I'd freak you out. I can transform now if you want, but you've got to promise not to scream, or anything."

"Sure, Sari, go ahead and transform. We're ready," said Adam.

"OK, just remember, it's still me." And Sari transformed into her bipedal mode. She stood before them, a 25 foot Autobot.

"Eee…" Mikaela started to scream, but stopped herself. "Sari, is that you?"

"It's me, Mikaela. "This is my body for the next year or so, until they fix my old one."

"Dang, Sari, you're big!" said Adam. "I guess I know what you mean now about not being able to come to the Mall."

"Yeah, I feel really bad about that," she said. "I also don't fit in my room at Sumdac Tower. Which means I can't be with my Dad as much," she sighed. And Autobots don't eat food, which means no Burger Bot!"

"What do you eat?" asked Mikaela.

"We don't eat anything. Autobots have a daily intake of energon, which we take into our mouths and it goes into our tank."

"What does it taste like?" Asked Adam.

"I have no idea, honestly. Autobots don't have taste buds. When it goes down, there's a slight electrical feel that I get in my body; that's about it."

"Man!" said Adam. "No Burger Bot, no pizza, no shakes…"

"Hey! Don't make me feel worse than I already do!" Sari protested.

"Sorry!"

"But, when they've fixed your body, you can go back in to it, right?" asked Mikaela.

"Yes, thank goodness!"

"Well, listen, Sari, you've still got your friends, and we'll support you any way we can!" said Adam. "Besides, I imagine there are some cool things about being a full Autobot. Like, being able to transform into a car, for instance."

"Yeah, that's pretty neat. I just learned how to do that today. Like my choice of vehicles?"

"It's awesome!" said Mikaela. "Anytime you feel like giving us a ride, I'm game!"

"Well, how about now?"

"Sure!" said Adam. "Let me just go tell my Mom we're heading out." And Adam went inside.

"Uh oh," said Mikaela. "You know she'll be coming out. Let's see: which would be a lesser freak-out – Autobot Sari, or Sari-as-a-car? Hmmm. Whoops! Too late!" Mrs. Witwicky came out and saw the 25 foot Autobot Sari in her driveway.

"Eeeek!" she screamed, and nearly passed out.

Adam caught her before she fell. "Mom! It's OK!" He tried to calm her down. "It's just an Autobot."

"What is an Autobot doing in my driveway?" she demanded.

"Hi, Mrs. Witwicky!" Sari waved, nervously.

"Uh, Mom, you know her, by the way. This is Sari."

"Sari?"

"In a new body – temporarily," said Sari.

Adam's mom looked up at this purple Autobot. "OK, perhaps someone can explain?"

* * *

"Man, Adam, I've heard about people having a 'conniption', but I never knew exactly what it meant. I think I know now," said Mikaela.

"Oh, my mom wasn't that bad!"

"She did kinda freak out a little," said Sari, speaking from the dashboard.

"So, Sari, I'm sitting behind the wheel here," said Adam, "but you're doing the steering. Should I be holding the steering wheel – at least to give the illusion."

"If you want," she replied.

"It's kinda neat how, every time you talk, the Autobot insignia on the steering wheel flashes," Mikaela said.

"Yeah, not sure why it does that. Same thing happened when I rode in Bumblebee's car and Jazz' car. So…where are we going?"

"Let's go over to Daniel's house," said Adam. "Sam, Jennifer and Kristin are there."

"Maybe we should give him a call first," said Mikaela.

"That's a good idea," Adam replied.

"Here, I'll put the call through." And Sari dialed Daniel's house from her car phone.

Daniel picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Daniel – Adam, Mikaela and Sari here. We're going to stop by, how does that sound?"

"Sure! Sari's with you? Hey, Sari!"

"Hi, Daniel!"

"You're calling from a car? Who's car is that?"

"You think we should tell him now?" asked Sari.

"Might as well," said Adam.

"Tell me what?"

"Hey, Daniel, can you put me on speakerphone to everyone?" Sari asked.

"Sure! Hold on. There! Sam, Jennifer, Kristin, Sari's on the phone with Adam and Mikaela."

"Hey! Sari! Nice to hear from you!" said Sam.

"Hi, Sari!" said Jennifer and Kristin.

"Hi guys!"

"So, what's up, Sari? What did you want to tell us? And whose car are you calling from?"

"Well, here's the thing: I was on the moon a little over a month ago, defending Farside Beacon One, when my bot body got blown up really bad. They rushed me to Cybertron, and, well, I almost died."

"Oh, man, Sari!"

"Anyway, they told me it will take over a year to fix my body, and, let's see…you know how when someone's car gets wrecked, they give you a loaner car? Well, they put me into a loaner body while they fix mine up."

"Well, that was nice of them!" said Jennifer.

"What kind of loaner body did they give you?" asked Sam.

"Well, it's purple and pink…"

"Oooh, nice color combination!" said Kristin.

"And it's an Autobot body instead of a Technorganic body…"

"Cool! We get to hang out with an Autobot!" said Sam.

"And...I'm 25 feet tall…"

"25 FEET?"

"Wait a minute!" said Sam. "Then how are you fitting in a car?"

"Well...you want to explain it, Adam?"

"You see," said Adam, "Sari's able to talk to you from a car...because Sari IS the car."

[Few seconds of silence]

"What?"

"You're a CAR?" said Kristin.

"Yep."

"What kind of car are you?" said Jennifer.

"Well, I'm just about ready to pull into Daniel's driveway, so why don't you all come outside?" said Sari.

[Phone click]

"Hello?"

Daniel, Kristin, Jennifer and Sam are standing outside on the driveway as Sari pulls up. Adam and Mikaela get out.

"Sari? Is that really you?" asks Daniel.

"It's me, Daniel."

All four get around Sari and admire her. "Wow! Sari, you're beautiful!" "Great color scheme!" "Nice set of wheels, Sari!"

"Sari, this is exactly the car I've wanted!" said Kristin. "Can I borrow you sometime?"

"Kristin! You can't 'borrow' Sari!" said Sam. "She's a, a person!"

Sari laughed. "Kristin, I'll be glad to give you a ride when I'm able, but I might be busy most of the time."

"How are you seeing?" asked Jennifer.

"I can see all around me, out of my headlights, and each of my mirrors." And Sari demonstrated by moving her mirrors around. "I can also open and close everything," as she opened and closed her trunk, hood, and doors.

"So, how do you turn into a 25 foot robot?" asked Daniel.

"Well, you might want to stand back a bit," warned Sari. They all took a few steps back, as Sari transformed. They all looked up, and their jaws dropped.

"Gaaah!" Said Sam. "You ARE big!"

"And pretty!" said Jennifer. "I really like your pink highlights!"

"Thanks, Jennifer. I'm still not used to being this size, though. It's going to take a while, and even though being able to transform into a car is cool, not being able to transform into human form kinda stinks."

"What do you mean?" asked Kristin.

"Well, it's hard having to look down at my Dad, and you guys. And most of all, I'm going to miss going out with all of you to places," she sighed.

"Well, when they fix your body, they'll put you back in, right? So it's just a temporary thing," said Sam. "And in the meantime, maybe we can do outside activities, like monster truck rallies, drive-in movies, and such."

"Aw, Sari, we still love you," said Jennifer, giving her pede a hug.

"Thanks, Jen, Sam," Sari replied. "Well, it's getting late. I need to start thinking about getting back to Autobot Central. Oh! Let me give you my new number so you can reach me there. I have my own room."

"Autobot sized, I assume?" said Daniel, smiling.

"Duh!" And Sari gave them her video phone number. "Hey, Adam, Mikaela, you need a ride back?"

"You want a ride back?" Adam asked Mikaela.

"Sure!" said Mikaela.

"I've got room for two more, if anyone wants a one-way ride to Adam's house!" Sari grinned.

"Me! Me! Oh me!" said Kristin. "You're…I mean, the car you picked…is my dream car!"

"Hey, Adam, I just had an idea: would you mind if Kristin sat behind the wheel?" Sari asked.

"No, fine with me – Mikaela, OK for us to sit in the back?"

"Sounds good to me!" she replied.

"Eeee!" Kristin jumped up and down.

"Do I have a fourth?"

"I'll go," said Sam, smiling.

"Let me follow you in my van, Sari," said Daniel, "that way, everyone will have a ride back."

Sari transformed back into her alt mode, and opened her car doors. She then slid the two front seats forward and pushed the back rests up to let Adam and Mikaela in the back. "Hop in, you two – don't forget to buckle!" As soon as they were in and buckled, Sari put the back rests up, but before she moved the front seats back, she said, "let me know how far to move the seats – I don't want to squish you guys." She moved them back slowly, until the two said, "That's good."

Then she told Kristin and Sam "OK, your turn," and they got in and buckled. Kristin giggled, "This is too cool!" After closing the doors, she asked, "anyone for some tunes?" "Oh yeah! You know which station we like!" said Adam. And Sari turned on her surround sound stereo system. "Excellent! Thanks, Sari!" said Sam.

"My pleasure! OK, looks like Daniel's ready to go, so we're off!" And backing out of the driveway, she drove them back to Adam's house.

* * *

Mrs. Witwicky was sitting in the living room, when the phone rang. "Witwicky residence," she answered. "Hi, Mrs. Witwicky, this is Sari. I apologize if I scared you earlier."

"Sari? Oh, that's all right. But you certainly were a shocking sight."

"I didn't mean for it to happen so suddenly, sorry. It's the body they gave me until my old one is repaired. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I'm bringing Adam and Mikaela back to the house now, and I'm also giving Sam and Kristin a ride. Daniel's following behind me, so he can bring them back. I have to go back to Autobot Central after I say goodbye."

"OK, Sari, thanks for letting me know. See you in a little bit."

"See you!"

Everyone arrived at the Witwicky residence, and said their goodbyes to Sari. She stayed in her alt mode. Adam's mom was at the doorway waiting, and in a calmer mood, had a chance to come outside and admire the dark blue sports car. "You've got good taste there, Sari – nice choice of vehicles!"

"Thanks, Mrs. Witwicky! I'm afraid it'll be a while before I can come in for a cup of tea – not until I get my old body back."

"That's alright, I can wait, hon. I'm just glad they were able to take care of you." She rubbed her hand on Sari's roof.

"Well, I've gotta get back to Autobot Central. Adam's got my new phone number, so we'll keep in touch."

"Wait! How will you drive around with no one sitting behind the wheel? Won't that attract attention?"

"Oh, forgot about that," and Sari turned on her "young male" driver hologram. "There, that's what Autobots do when we're out alone."

"Well, for goodness sake! OK Sari, you take care of yourself."

"Bye!" And Sari and her hologram backed out of the driveway and headed back to her Autobot home.

**So Sari's had a chance to meet up with her friends and as expected, they showed her their support for her new circumstances – notwithstanding the initial shock! She also is starting to learn the ins and outs of what it takes to be a fully functioning Autobot, so when Optimus calls "Autobots! Transform and roll out!" she will join right in! Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A relaxing day for Sari! No training, just taking it easy, when a visitor stops by.**

Sari was relaxing in Autobot Central's rec room, when she heard a familiar voice coming from the hallway. "So, I see bots have it easy around here now! Get to lounge around all day, eh?" She turned around. "Bee! What're you doing down here? Couldn't stay away?" she smiled.

"I came down to see how our new Autobot's doing," he said, "and secondarily, I happened to have a meeting with Optimus – but, I came mostly to see my bud." He jumped over the couch and plopped down. "So, how's it going?"

"Good, good!" she said. "Getting used to the new me."

"Glad to hear that, Sar. Say! Got your wheels yet?"

"Oh yeah! I have to show you. Which reminds me, I've been meaning to ask – how come you never changed your alt mode? You always kept Captain Fanzone's yellow car."

"Oh yeah, about that," he explained. "You see, everyone recognized his car, and I had one of those portable police light thingies like he's got that I would put on the roof. It's how I got around when we needed to get to places in an emergency. Then, when you, Bulky and I went to the moon, there wasn't another car to scan, so I just kept it."

"Oh, now that makes sense. I always assumed that once you scanned a car, that was it. You see, Jazz had me learn how to transform on an old jalopy, and I got scared that I'd be stuck with that as my alt mode for good!"

Bee laughed. "Oh no! You can scan as many times as you want! But hey – you'd look cool as a jalopy!" he winked.

Sari gave him a punch on the arm. "Bee!"

"Ow!" He rubbed his arm, laughing. "Sorry! Hey, I gotta watch out, now that you're as big as me – you throw a mean punch!"

"So, you in for a video game?" he asked.

"You're on!" And they picked up bot-size controllers and went at it on the TV.

"Hey guys, whatcha doin?" Bulkhead came in.

"Hi, Bulky! Just playing video games," said Sari. "I'm beating Bee," she smiled.

"We just got started, girl, you wait and see!" said Bee.

"This oughta be good!" said Bulkhead, and sat down next to them.

Shortly after they started, an alarm went off in Autobot Central; it was from the Detroit Fire Chief. Optimus picked up the alert. "What is it, Chief?" he asked.

"Optimus, there's been a train derailment on the outskirts of town. Freight cars containing hazardous chemicals have fallen down into a nearby river, and other cars have damaged an overhead passenger trestle. We could use your team's help!"

"On our way!" he responded, and came on the PA system. "Autobots! Meet me outside. Prepare to transform and roll out!"

"Hey! My first mission as an Autobot, Bee!" Sari said.

"And I was just about to start winning…" Bumblebee sighed. "Oh well," he said, putting the controller down, "I'm coming too; I can help." And the three bots got up and went outside.

Good thing Bee happened to be joining in; Jazz and Arcee were away, so the only Autobots available were Optimus, Ratchet, Bulkhead, Sari, and Bumblebee. "There's a derailed freight train with hazardous chemicals; follow me!" Everyone transformed and headed to the site.

"Was anyone hurt?" Sari asked Optimus as the Autobots drove down the highway to the crash site.

"There were some rail workers injured, but they're being treated," Optimus answered. "Our job will be to take care of the overturned freight cars, and the damaged trestle."

"Hey, Sar! Nice set of wheels!" said Bumblebee.

"Thanks, Bee!"

"Yeah, Sari, that's a nice sports car!" said Bulkhead.

"Thanks, Bulky! Jazz and my Dad helped me pick it out."

"The derailment is on the outskirts of town, team," said Optimus. "We need to get hazardous materials away from the river and check on a damaged trestle. I'll check in with the Fire Chief as soon as we get there."

"Gotcha, Boss-bot!" said Bulkhead.

They arrived at the scene of the accident. The freight train had been carrying building materials, oil, and chemicals. The engine and tanker cars had rolled down into a nearby river bed. The engine was smoking and in danger of catching fire, which might then set off the oil tankers, which had been right behind the engine. Some of the cars carrying chemicals were lying in the river.

The cars carrying the building materials had overturned and smashed into beams that were supporting an overhead train trestle.

"What a mess!" Said Ratchet.

"What's the first order of business, Chief?" Optimus asked.

"We need to get those cars out of the river," he replied. "And we could use your help containing the fire in the engine. But the commuter rail company tells me they can't reach the passenger train to alert them about the damaged trestle; it's due here in 20 minutes. Can you do something to support that section of track?"

"We'll do what we can," said Optimus. "Ratchet, Bulkhead, take care of the cars in the river. I'll help the firemen with the engine. Bumblebee, Sari, take a look at the damaged trestle – see if there's any way it can be supported before the commuter train arrives."

Ratchet and Bulkhead started lifting the tanker cars out of the riverbed, and Optimus used his extinguisher and foam mods to help the firemen put out the train engine fire. Sari and Bumblebee went over to look at the trestle. "Those cars really cracked the supports," said Bee. "There's no way it's gonna hold up an incoming train."

"So what do we do?" Sari asked, concerned. "The commuter train's on its way, and they can't contact it to get it to stop. We've only got a few minutes before it gets here."

"Let's check out the rails up top. Do they look OK?" And Sari and Bee climbed up to the overpass and examined the passenger tracks.

Sari got on her servos and knees and gazed down the rails with her optics. "They look OK to me. What do you think?"

Bee looked from the opposite end. "I think they're OK."

"What if we got back down to the freight track level, and supported the trestle with our shoulders? We're just about the right height." Said Sari.

"I guess that would work. We've only got a few minutes before it gets here." And Bee got on his comm. "Hey, Optimus, Sari and I are going to support the trestle while the train comes through. Tell the Chief."

"That just might work, Bumblebee. I'll let him know. He'll want to be on standby in case the commuter train derails."

"OK, Sar, let's do this." And Bumblebee and Sari scrambled back down the embankment and stood facing each other, putting their shoulders under the trestle, supporting it at either end.

"Get ready, Bee, here it comes!" said Sari. The commuter train approached. "What the…?" said the engineer, as he saw the heads of Autobots in the distance, on either side of the trestle. He started to brake the train to slow it down. "Uh, sorry for the sudden slowdown folks. There appears to be something going on up ahead. If you look out your windows, you'll see some Autobots," said the engineer. The passengers all rushed to either side of the cars to see Sari and Bumblebee as the train passed safely over the supported trestle. Sari waved at the gawking commuters. "Hi!" A little girl in the train waved back. "Hi Autobots!"

After the train had safely passed over on its way into downtown Detroit, Bumblebee and Sari stepped back. "Good job, you two!" said Optimus. "They finally communicated to the rail company and all service has been suspended. Repairs will begin immediately."

"Hey, Sar, high five!" said Bumblebee. And Sari returned the high five. "You could never have done that in your old body, you know. You did good!" He told her.

"Bumblebee's right," said Optimus. "You and he just happened to be the right size to hold up that trestle, and we needed both of you - one on each side. Good job!"

"And thank you from both the Fire Station and the Commuter Rail Company," said the Fire Chief. "You two saved those passengers and railway workers."

"You're welcome, Chief!" said Sari and Bee.

"Now, Ratchet and Bulkhead can use your help with the rest of those overturned cars," said Optimus.

"Yes sir!" said Sari. And she and Bee headed down to the riverbed.

* * *

Later that day, Adam was home watching the evening news with Lester Black.

"Train disaster, Autobot rescue today," he led off, "A freight train derailment just south of the city." The robo-cams showed the derailment aftermath, with the engine smoking and the cars in the river. "Optimus and his team of Autobots assisted the Firemen this afternoon by pulling, or I should say, lifting the cars containing hazardous chemicals out of the river, while Optimus helped the firemen douse the flaming engine." The video showed Optimus working with the firemen, and Ratchet and Bulkhead bringing the tanker cars out of the river onto dry ground.

"But by far, the most amazing Autobot story today came from another area of the derailment," Lester continued. "It seems that another section of the freight train had struck supporting structures of an overhead passenger rail trestle, seriously damaging it. With an oncoming passenger train approaching, the Autobots had to work fast – two of them got underneath the trestle just minutes before the train arrived." And the robo-cam showed a video of Bumblebee and Sari standing, facing each other, with their shoulders holding up the trestle.

"Hey! Is that Sari?" said Sam. He got on his cell phone and called Mikaela. "Mikaela, are you watching the news? Yeah! You see her? Is this cool or what?"

Lester continued. "We were also able to receive this smart phone video from one of the commuter train passengers, who recorded these images of the Autobots from his window." And Lester's TV crew cut to the video, showing the passengers looking out their windows, then panning to the outside of one side of the train, where it showed the back of Bumblebee's head, and going to the other, showing Sari waving to everyone as it passed by.

"There she is! We've got to see if the other guys are watching this!" said Sam.

* * *

Back at Autobot Central, Sari and the others were in the rec room watching the same news program. They showed the robo-cam and Sari and Bumblebee supporting the trestle. "Hey, look Sar! We're famous!" said Bee. Then they showed the smart phone video. "Aw man! All they got of me was the back of my head!"

"But Bee, that's your best side!" teased Sari.

"Haw!" laughed Bulkhead.

"Oh yeah? Wait 'til we get back to that video game, Sar – no mercy!"

* * *

Later that evening, Sari was surfing the net on her Autobot workstation when a call came through. "Video call from Adam Witwicky," her workstation announced.

She answered. "Hey Adam."

"Sari! We all saw you on the news today! Awesome how you guys took care of that derailment and that passenger train."

"Thanks! It was also my first mission as an Autobot," she smiled.

"Cool! I knew you'd be great. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know we all saw you and gave you a collective high five."

"High five back!" Sari chuckled. "Ooops, looks like I've got another call coming in; talk later, OK?"

"Will do! See ya!" and Adam hung up. Sari picked up the other call; it was from Isaac.

"Hi Dad!"

"Sari! I saw you on the news tonight! Oh I was so proud of you! You and Bumblebee were responsible for saving the lives of over one thousand commuters!"

"Thanks, Dad. We had to act fast, because they weren't able to reach the engineer in time to stop the train."

"Oh, you all did a terrific job, my dear. Congratulations on a successful mission."

"Thanks, I'll let everyone know," she smiled.

"So how's the new alt mode working out? Do you like it?"

"Oh, Dad, it's great! And I showed it to Adam and the gang, they love it! I gave them rides."

"Well, that's wonderful! I'm glad you have such good friends," Isaac smiled. "Sari, I'm so happy you are adjusting to your new body. I do miss you here at the residence, but I know it's just temporary. And when I see the things you are capable of doing like today, I can certainly wait."

"It does make me feel good," she said. "Optimus and Bee even remarked today, that it was the two of us, being equal sized Autobots, which made all the difference holding up the ends of that trestle. Isn't it something? If I was in my old body, we might not have been able to accomplish it."

"Well, now, that is something, Sari. Almost as if you were meant to be put in that body, who knows?"

Sari gave that some thought, and it comforted her. "Thanks, Dad!"

"Alright, my dear, I just wanted to give you a quick call. I'm going to turn in. You take care of yourself."

"I will Daddy. Good night. I love you!"

"And I love you, my Sari. Good night." And she hung up the call.

* * *

The next day, Bumblebee was planning to return to the moon and Bulkhead was going to board a ship back to the Falcon Nexus. "Hey Sar, have you gotten the hang of using your mods in that new bod?" Bee asked her.

"Yeah, Jazz, Arcee and I went out to the Autobot training area and we practiced. My orbs work differently, that's for sure. Instead of them coming out of my servos, I get a blaster."

"That's how most bots get their close combat mods," said Bulkhead. "Like my wrecking balls."

"Hey," said Bee. "What about when you put your two servos together? Like when I combine my stingers - they make one big powerful weapon. Since you have the same body type as me, I'll bet you can do that too with your blasters."

"Huh...good question! We didn't try that," Sari responded.

"Probably because they have different body types, and it didn't occur to them. Hey! Before I leave, I ought to show you how it's done. Why don't we go back out to the training area?"

"That'd be great, Bee! Thanks!"

"I'd like to come too!" said Bulkhead.

"Let's let Optimus know," said Sari. And the three went to tell him their plans.

"That's a great idea, Bumblebee. It hadn't occured to me that Sari might be able to combine her servos like you do. Let me know how it turns out," he replied. And they transformed and headed out to the training area. "Well, the 'Three Amigos' are back once again," Optimus smiled.

Arriving at the site, Bumblebee showed Sari how to combine her servos into one. "You put your arms together, and then you think about forming your blaster. Like this," and he demonstrated the technique, putting his arms together, forming one huge stinger. "Then, when you aim and blast, it comes out with a much bigger blast, like so," and aiming his combined stinger at the hanging trucks, he was able to hit several at once. "Give it a try."

"OK, here goes." And Sari put her arms together like Bumblebee did, and gave the thought to form her blaster. Sure enough, her forearms suddenly became a single unit, and her blaster became a single, huge one. "Wow! It worked!" She aimed it at the trucks, and a gigantic orb came out, which took out all of the hanging trucks at once! "Whoa!" Sari said.

Bulkhead's jaw dropped, and Bee jumped back a meter. "Gaah! he yelled."

"Uh, Sari? That's some blaster!" Bulkhead finally said. "Dang, girl!" said Bee. "That thing'd knock down Lugnut!"

"Hey, Bee, how do I, uh, un-combine myself?" she asked, absent-mindedly turning to Bumblebee, unintentionally pointing the blaster at him. He hit the deck. "Aaah! Sari! Don't point that thing at me!"

"Ooops, sorry! So, how do I get out of this mode?" she said, turning away.

"You bring your servos back, and it un-combines and releases your arms," he replied, staying on the ground. She did that, and the large blaster went away and her arms and servos came back to normal. "Gotcha." Bumblebee looked up, and as soon as her arms were back to normal, he stood up again.

"Well, you'll certainly be a good asset in battle, that's for sure," he told her. "We'll tell Optimus all about it when we get back.

"I'll have to let Jazz know, so I can drill on it. I'll just have to practice on something a little bigger than those trucks."

"Hey, maybe you and Jazz can drill up on the moon," said Bulkhead.

"That's not a bad idea, big guy," replied Bee. "We've got lots of big boulders to blast at. You should suggest it when he gets back."

"Will do. Thanks, you guys!" Sari said. And the "Three Amigos" transformed and returned to Autobot Central.

**So Sari's first mission was a success! And she learned that even though her new body is huge, there are things a huge body can accomplish. **

**Finally, with the help of the Three Amigos, Sari learned about a new weapon, thanks her being put in body type 65356-9292-346. Thanks for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sari and Jazz go with Bumblebee to the moon, so Sari can test out her combined mod that Bumblebee showed her.**

**Introducing some additional "homage" characters in this story from various continuities. Here's a challenge: See if you catch all of them before it becomes obvious!**

Sari, Jazz and Bumblebee took the space bridge up to the moon to continue working on her combined orb mod. Driving to a remote area, the three searched out a spot with plenty of large house-sized boulders and then transformed into bipedal mode.

"Alright, Sari," said Jazz, "let's see how you form your combined battle mod." And Sari put her arms together to form her orb mod. Her arms combined into a single blaster, similar to Bumblebee's combined stinger mod.

"Now, aim it at that boulder to the right." Sari aimed, and a single enormous blue-white orb shot out of her blaster, hitting the giant boulder and disintegrating it.

"Just like on the training site," said Bee.

"Impressive!" Said Jazz. "Let's see if you can control the size. "Can you make a smaller one?"

Sari concentrated, and fired a much smaller, more bluish orb toward another rock. This time, instead of blasting it, it shot a hole straight through.

The three walked over to examine the hole. Its inside was perfectly smooth, with sharp edges at the entrance and exit hole, and looked like it had been formed by a laser.

"Whoa! Now that's interesting!" said Sari.

"It didn't stop here," said Bumblebee. "Look!" And he pointed down to other rocks, where the orb had continued on into the distance, melting holes into rocks in a straight line as far as they could see.

"OK, where did it end?" Sari asked.

"Let's go find out," said Jazz, and they transformed into their alt modes and drove off. About 2 hics away, they finally saw the last rock. The orb made it halfway in and stopped, before finally dissolving.

"The smaller it is the more concentrated. Nice!" said Jazz.

They continued testing and drilling on Sari's combined mod that day, seeing how fast she could combine her weapon and shoot, and drilled on various methods of control. Finally, the three drove back to Farside Beacon one, and saying goodbye to Bee, Sari and Jazz took the space bridge back to Earth.

* * *

Later that evening, Sari sat in her room at Autobot Central and decided to give her father a call. "Hello, Sari!" he responded, "what a nice phone call to get! How are you?"

"Doing great, Dad! How are things at work? I was thinking of you today, and was worried about how you were doing without Bulkhead, now that he's gone to work over at the Falcon Nexus."

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I have a new assistant."

"No! Who is it?"

"Her name is Dr. Alisa Morozov. I hired her a few months ago, shortly after Bulkhead left. Oh what a find! A Rhodes Scholar, a Ph.D. from MIT, and was a lecturer at the prestigious St. Petersburg State University in Russia. She is fluent in Russian, English, French, and even Hindi. When I interviewed her, she told me that it had been her dream to work at Sumdac Systems."

"Wow! She sounds incredible!"

"Yes. And she's an incredibly fast learner. I've put her in charge of the space bridge technology as well as the Farside Beacon One scanning software. She has been able to increase its efficiency by 75%!"

"That's great, Dad! I'm sure Bulkhead would be impressed!"

"She's also a very nice person, Sari. I must say, we really enjoy working together."

"Oh?" Sari smiled. "What are you saying, Dad?"

"Well," he said, a little shyly, "the other day, she and I did have a nice lunch together," he smiled.

"Oh, hey, Dad, don't let me get in the way, especially right now, since I'm, well, away from Sumdac Tower," she chuckled.

"Oh, no, no, Sari! Nothing like that, I assure you!" He blushed.

"OK, Dad," she smiled, "I'm glad you have a good assistant to help you. You know how I worry about you."

"Oh, thank you, my dear. I'm doing well. And how are you? "

"Things are great! Today, Jazz, Bumblebee and I were up on the moon drilling on a new mod. Since I have Bumblebee's body type, we realized that I can combine my arms into a single blaster, like he does with his stingers. You know how my orbs would come out of my palms in my technorganic body? Well in this body, they instead come out of a blaster; my servos retract. But when I put my arms together, they form one huge blaster, and I fire out orbs of various sizes! Jazz had me drilling up there. They'll be put to good to use in battle."

"I see. So in your Autobot body, you can make use of functions that are similar to Bumblebee's. Good that you learned this."

"It was Bee's idea, actually," she smiled.

"He's a good friend!"

OK, my dear," he yawned, "I'm going to turn in. You have a good night, my Sari. I love you!"

"I love you too, Dad. Good night!"

* * *

The next day, in the command center of Farside Beacon One, an alarm went off.

The display board was reading:

**WARNING**

Object(s) Detected: Decepticon Ship  
Number: 1  
Estimated Time of Arrival: 48:17:38  
Probability of Arrival: 80.15%  
Projected Arrival Distance: (Km) 2750 Km  
Projected Coordinates: (-19.4°, -92.8°)

"Uh oh," said Bumblebee. "Looks like we've got company. Let's get ready."

Suddenly, the station received a blast!

"What the heck was that?" One of the human crew members asked as the station shook.

Sandstorm rushed onto the weapons console. "Decepticon ship firing on us!" He fired back at them with the starfield missile launcher.

"Firestar! Hail Optimus!" yelled Bumblebee, as he hurried to check on the damage to the station.

"Optimus here, Bumblebee! What's happening?"

"We're under attack, Optimus! Decepticon ship!"

"On our way!"

"Bumblebee! The ship has passed us and is headed to Earth!" yelled Firestar.

"The scanner said they were two solar cycles away! Why didn't it pick them up sooner?" Bumblebee asked. He got on the comm to warn Optimus.

* * *

Optimus piloted the Ark-32 to intercept the Decepticon ship. "There it is!" he yelled. Jazz fired the particle combustion cannons. The enemy ship did precise corkscrew maneuvers to avoid the strikes.

"There are four aboard," said Arcee. "Thunderblast, Thundercracker, Lugnutz and Shortround."

Sari was botting the weapons scanners. "They're charging up their laser emitters!" she yelled.

"Initiating evasive maneuvers!" yelled Optimus, and pulled the Ark-32 into a quick turn to avoid their lasers, but one managed to directly strike their port nacelle. "We're hit!" Optimus called out. "I'm losing control!" The Ark-32 began heading for a nose-dive into the lunar surface! "Standby for emergency landing!" He pulled up hard on the controls, and managed to avoid lunar outcroppings or striking the ship head-on into the ground. It slammed down hard, crashing near the western edge of the Grimaldi crater.

Recovering, he looked back. "Is everyone alright?" Optimus asked.

Arcee looked around. Jazz and Sari nodded. "We're fine," she said.

He got on the console comm. "Farside Beacon One, this is Ark-32," said Optimus. "We've crashed on the moon, near Grimaldi. Can you get a shuttle here?"

"Roger, Optimus, shuttle on the way," said Firestar. "Any bot injured?"

"No, but we will need assistance repairing the Ark-32."

"Will dispatch a land rover and a repair crew," replied Firestar.

Optimus then got on the comm to Ratchet at Autobot Central. "Ratchet, Decepticon ship headed to Earth. We've crashed on the moon, Ark-32 is disabled. Will get on the space bridge as soon as possible. Alert Sumdac Tower."

"Roger, Optimus. I'll be ready for the Deceptislimes! Get here when you are able."

The shuttle arrived and transported the Autobots back to Farside Beacon One, where they took the space bridge back to Earth.

They arrived on the top of Sumdac Tower, where Thundercracker was attacking the shield. Isaac and Dr. Morozov were trying desperately to maintain the shield against his attacks. "He's got some supercharged blaster that is sapping the strength from the shield," Isaac explained, "We are doing everything we can to keep it up."

"Isaac, I am detecting a different type of wave signal in his resonance blaster," said Dr. Morozov. "Not like anything I've seen before. Each successive strike drains more and more energy from the shield. We cannot sustain it for much longer!"

Optimus turned to Sari. "Go fly up and draw him away from the tower while we try to strengthen the shield!"

"Yes, sir!" And she took off after Thundercracker with her orbs.

"Where are the others?" He asked the humans.

"Ratchet is down in the street battling Thunderblast," said Dr. Morozov. "Captain Fanzone is fighting the other two; they were last seen in the downtown area terrorizing the citizens."

He next turned to Arcee. "You and I will go down and help Ratchet and Captain Fanzone." Finally to Jazz, he said, "stay here and protect the tower." All the Autobots left to protect the city.

"Come here, you Starscream wannabee!" yelled Sari, zooming towards Thundercracker.

"Starscream?! That inferior template? How dare you compare me to him!" And he blasted her for the sheer insolence.

She managed to easily dodge his blasts. "At least he's aiming his blasts at me and not the tower," she thought. She flew around him and tried drawing him further away.

"Is that the best you can do? Clone?" she taunted him.

"Is that the…?" Try this on for size, you miserable mechanical wench!" And opening his mouth, he shot a powerful sonic blast in her direction. It hit Sari square in the chassis, temporarily knocking her off balance, and hurled her backwards into a nearby building.

"Ooof! That hurt!" she groaned, extricating herself from the hole in the building where she'd been planted. Coming out, she saw that he'd gone back to blasting the Sumdac Tower shield. "This bot just doesn't give up!"

Meanwhile, Optimus helped Ratchet take on Thunderblast, while Arcee transformed into her motorcycle to go join Captain Fanzone's police crew battling Lugnutz and Shortround.

"Well, look who's here! Come to help out the poor old skidplate! Hi there, big guy! Wanna play?" taunted Thunderblast.

Optimus tried snagging her with his bolo weapon, but she was too fast, jumping away each time. "You Autobots are pathetic!"

Arcee arrived at the scene with Captain Fanzone and transformed to bipedal mode. "How can I assist, Captain? Where are the Decepticons?"

"They were here destroying cars and storefronts," he told her, "then, as soon as we arrived, they just up and disappeared like ghosts!"

"They're up to something, Captain," she answered, "but what that is, I can't figure out." Arcee tried putting the pieces together in her intelligence officer processor, with Thundercracker attacking Sumdac Tower's shield, Thunderblast on the street, and these two thug Decepticons first terrorizing the city, then slinking away.

Meanwhile, Optimus and Ratchet were chasing Thunderblast down towards the Detroit River area. Every time the Autobots would attack, she would feint, then attack – feint, then attack. Ratchet was getting frustrated. "This is ridiculous!" he said.

Just then, Arcee wondered, "they're keeping all of us separated!" and got on her comm to Optimus. "Where are you and Ratchet?"

"We're fighting Thunderblast down by the Detroit River," he responded.

"Optimus! They're trying to separate us, but from what I'm not yet sure," Arcee responded.

During Sari's battle with Thundercracker, the shield finally gave out. Now all that stood between Thundercracker's powerful blasts against the roof were Sari flying around him and Jazz with his laser nunchaku. Thundercracker yelled out "Success! Time to blow away the top of the tower!"

Alicia told Isaac to get off of the roof. "Isaac! We must get to safety! Let's get into the elevator, quickly!"

Jazz agreed with her. "I think it's better for the two of you if you leave," he said.

She shielded Isaac and the two ran to the elevator just as the doors closed. "Oh, thank you, Alisa!" He said. The elevator began its descent to the first floor.

"We should get out of here, Isaac," she told him, "out of Sumdac Tower."

"Alisa, are you sure? What about the shield? Shouldn't we at least try to get it working again?"

"No, I'm afraid with his final blast, the shield has lost all of its power. It has completely failed. We must evacuate, it's the only way."

The elevator arrived on the first floor and the doors opened. "Come," she said, taking his arm, "I have taken the liberty of calling a car for us. It is waiting outside to evacuate us away from the battle."

Isaac took his arm away. "No, Alisa!" He protested angrily, "this is not right! I must stay here and try to repair the shield for the safety of my employees!"

"I'm afraid you can't do that, Isaac," she responded, her voice suddenly becoming metallic.

"What do you mean? What is this?" Isaac looked on in horror, as Alicia's face began to fall away in square and rectangular tiles, revealing a silvery, metallic robotic visage. Fiery red optics replaced her blue eyes, and pointed, prehensile snake-like appendages came out of her back and wrapped themselves around his body, lifting him up.

Isaac screamed, "Help! Somebody, please, help me!" His robo-receptionist saw this and started to alert the Autobots. "Optimus! Professor Sumdac is..." But Alisa fired her blaster at the desk and destroyed the bot. People in the lobby screamed and fell to the ground.

Once her transformation was complete, Alisa crashed through the lobby window with Isaac in tow and jumped into Lugnutz' alt mode vehicle, which had been waiting outside. It sped off towards the Detroit River, where Shortround was waiting in his alt mode boat. Alisa jumped into the boat and Shortround sped off at 350 mph to a secret rendezvous point somewhere in Lake Erie, waiting to meet up with Thunderblast. Lugnutz drove away.

Optimus and Ratchet were still fighting Thunderblast to the edge of the Detroit River. As soon as she received word from Alisa that she had Isaac, she turned to mock the Autobots one final time, "Well, this has been ever so much fun, old fart, handsome lug, but I really must be going – in my new alt mode! Hope you like it!" and laughing loudly, she jumped into the river, transforming into her speedboat / submarine alt mode, and disappeared underwater.

That very same moment, Optimus received the aborted message from Isaac's robo-receptionist. He and Ratchet transformed into their alt modes and rushed back to Sumdac Tower. On the way, Optimus contacted Arcee. "Thunderblast has escaped into the river, but something's happened at Sumdac Tower! Meet us there stat!"

"On my way!" said Arcee.

Thundercracker also disengaged from fighting Jazz and Sari. "You addle-pated morons aren't even worth my enormously valuable time!" He yelled, and took off into the sky. Sari and Jazz looked on puzzled, wondering what he was up to, Sari was about to pursue him, until they got a comm message from Optimus. "Come down immediately to the lobby! Something's happened to the Professor!"

"Daddy! Yelled Sari, and flew down to the street at breakneck speed. She landed and saw all the broken glass on the sidewalk, and running inside, saw Optimus and Ratchet standing by the receptionist desk. Arcee arrived seconds later, followed by Jazz. A huge blast hole was in the wall, and the receptionist-bot's head and left shoulder had been blown off.

"Where's my father? Sari frantically asked her friends.

"We can't find him," Optimus worriedly responded. "We were fighting Thunderblast when I received an interrupted alert from the robo-receptionist, then static."

"I just found this on the floor," said Arcee, holding a holo-disk. She put it into the player on the receptionist desk, and a recorded image came up - of Swindle!

"Hello there, Autobots!" the hologram began. "If you are watching this, then my mission has been a success. It was quite an expensive outlay, putting my agent, the Decepticon Pretender Alisa, undercover on Earth for so many years, but it was certainly worth it. She had been working as a scientist in Russia, then finally getting a position at the highest levels in Sumdac Systems – quite an accomplishment, wouldn't you agree? Before leaving with Professor Sumdac, Alisa left this holo-disk on the floor for you."

"Anyway, Professor Sumdac is being held in an undisclosed location by my accomplices Alisa, Thunderblast and Thundercracker – such a lovely pair those two, and the names go so well together! As for the others, Lugnutz and Shortround, well, they are just lackeys – you won't get much information out of them; they have no idea where the professor is. Alisa, she's my jewel! Alisa's been working for me for millions of stellar cycles; a brilliant spy!"

"So, here's the deal: you hand over the technorganic Sari Sumdac to Lugnutz and Shortround, and Alisa will return her father, safe and sound. Otherwise, well, they'll still return him to you, but we wouldn't want to go into too much detail as to what kind of condition he'd be in. Trust me it's not for the faint of spark."

"You've got exactly two solar cycles. Fair trade?" The holo-disk ended.

**That's part one of this multi-part saga. Unfortunately for Sari and Isaac, Swindle and his posse don't know about Sari's spark transplant – they still believe she's a technorganic. How do you surrender a technorganic that you don't have? Not that Optimus would even let Sari surrender herself if she was still in her old body anyway!**

**So how does this dilemma get resolved? We'll see in the next chapter or two. Thanks for reading.**


	6. Chapter 6

**So Isaac has been abducted by the Decepticons, and they are holding him hostage. He will be released only after the Autobots have handed over Sari. This is all a plan of Swindle's, who wants Sari for her enormous set of mods; he tried capturing Sari many years ago, but that posse failed miserably.**

**This time, his plan is using Isaac, and has been thus far successful. However, there's a problem. Swindle wants Sari the Technorganic, but she does not exist right now, only Sari the Autobot.**

**They have two days to rescue Sari's father.**

**BTW, another "homage" character appears…**

Sari started frantically pacing back and forth in the Sumdac Tower lobby. "What do I do? What do I do? Swindle doesn't know that I've been put into another body – he still thinks I'm in my technorganic body! How do I hand myself over if I'm in the wrong body?"

Optimus scolded her. "Sari, stop!" he said. "You're not handing yourself over to anyone!"

Arcee put her servo on Sari's shoulder. "We will rescue your father, Sari! There's got to be a way of finding out where they are," she said.

Just then, Captain Fanzone pulled up and walked into the lobby. "Hey, Autobots! One of those nutcase robots is back. He just broke in to Wyatt's Toy Store. He's rampaging in there right now! If you hurry up, maybe you can catch him."

Jazz looked at Optimus. "It's got to be Shortround!"

"Arcee, stay here and brief Captain Fanzone on what happened here," said Optimus. "Everyone else, transform and roll out!" Optimus, Ratchet, Jazz and Sari transformed and left for the store.

When they arrived, a crowd had gathered outside the toy store, listening to the racket Shortround was making. Mr. Wyatt was standing outside, distraught. "My store, my beautiful store! He's destroying it!" he sobbed.

As Optimus, Jazz and Ratchet rushed inside, Sari kneeled down to console him. "Don't worry, Derrick," she said, "we'll take care of him!"

"Oh, thank you, Autobots, thank you!" he said, as Sari joined her team.

The four Autobots surrounded the Decepticon. "Shortround!" yelled Optimus. "Stand down!" Shortround erupted into panic at the sight of the Autobots and dropped the action figures he'd grabbed. He tried to run away, but Jazz got close enough to use his Circuit-Su to paralyze him. He fell down and started screaming hysterically "I can't move! I can't move! My toys! I want my toys!"

Sari came forward and began to yell at him. "You miserable pile of scrap! Where's…" but Jazz held up a digit to his mouth to tell her to be silent. He communicated to her Spark, "Sari – do not let out who you are to the enemy." She nodded and immediately stopped talking.

Jazz picked up the sobbing Decepticon. "No toys for you, Shortround," he told him. "There's a holding cell for you at Autobot Central!"

They carried the still paralyzed Shortround to the Autobot holding cell and locked him in. The Autobots then held a meeting in Optimus' conference room. "Well, that's one at least," said Ratchet. "But Swindle said we wouldn't get much information out of him – or Lugnutz."

"That's what Swindle said. It doesn't necessarily mean it's the truth," said Optimus. "Jazz, is there anything you can extract from his processor?"

"In his current immobile state, I shouldn't have any trouble performing a processor extraction with P-O-M," he replied. "Sari, I will need your help, but in order to do that, you must first free your Spark from worries about your father. It's the only way you will be able to assist."

"Yes, Sensei," she replied. And she knew he was right, but it was going to be the hardest thing her training demanded of her. She began preparing her Spark.

The two Cyber-Ninjas walked toward the holding cell and looked down at the miserable Decepticon, still swearing about losing his action figures and not being able to move. "You slagging pigbots!" he cried, "Give me back my movement!"

Jazz ignored him, but Sari found his yelling very disturbing. Jazz looked at her. "Quiet your Spark, Sari," he said to her silently.

They both got down in Lotus position. "Follow my lead," he told her verbally.

"Why? What are you two doing?" asked Shortround.

Sari began calming her Spark. "Good, Sari, you are on the right track," said Jazz to her Spark. "Now, I am going to enter his processor. I will need you behind me. He will resist. Follow me, and when you sense him resisting me, push him away, similar to what you did when you were battling Mindwipe."

"Yes, Sensei," said Sari.

"What are you doing to me?" Yelled Shortround, sensing their presence in his thoughts. "Get out of my processor!"

Jazz began examining his memories, and the plans that were made for Isaac's abduction. Whenever Shortround began resisting the examination, Sari used her P-O-M to hold him back. Shortround fell silent as the procedure occurred. It lasted all of 10 cycles. Once Jazz was satisfied he had collected all of the information concerning the mission, he began to exit. "Sari, let us leave," he told her. And the two came back to their Sparks.

"What…what did you just do to me?" Shortround demanded.

"Nothing," said Jazz. "We just collected information about your mission, nothing more."

"I could have told you!" he protested.

"I doubt it," said Jazz, "but thank you for the offer."

Sari and Jazz got up and went to brief the team. "Hey! What about letting me move again!" protested Shortround.

"You caused a great deal of damage to Mr. Wyatt's Toy Store," said Jazz. "I'll let him decide when to release you from my Circuit-Su."

"Damn you Cyber-Ninjas!" he cursed as they left the holding cell.

"Were you able to get any information from him?" Optimus asked.

"More than Swindle let on," said Jazz. "Sari's father is being held in their ship, somewhere at the bottom of Lake Erie. However, Shortround doesn't know exactly where. And Lugnutz knows even less about the mission, unfortunately."

"Luckily, we captured the lackey with more information," said Arcee. "With a ship, we'd be able to scan the lake to locate them. It would take time, however."

"Unfortunately, the Ark-32 is non-functional," said Optimus.

"Not anymore," said Ratchet. "I just spoke with Bumblebee. They've completed repairs. He's piloting it back here, and it'll be landing at the Detroit Airport in one megacycle."

"Bee's piloting it?" questioned Sari, raising an optic.

"Hey, he's got his Autobot pilot license!" said Ratchet.

"Alright," said Optimus. "We should be able to scan the location of the Decepticon ship. However, as Arcee said, scanning a lake the size of Erie would take time, and that is something we do not have."

"Shortround handed over Alisa and Professor Sumdac to Thunderblast at a specific location," said Jazz. "I should be able to determine its coordinates from a map of Lake Erie, based on the visual and navigational data I collected after having scanned his processor."

"It's very likely their ship is somewhere at the lake bottom near that point," said Arcee, and she pulled up a detailed NOAA map. Jazz carefully examined it. "This is where the hand-off took place," he said, pointing to a spot over the Sandusky Sub-Basin.

"Then that's where we scan," said Optimus. "Alright, as soon as Bumblebee gets here, we'll take off, and fly above Sandusky Bay."

* * *

"Detroit City Airport, this is Autobot Ship Ark-32, requesting landing privileges," said Bumblebee.

"Roger, Ark-32, landing privileges granted. Proceed to runway F," said the control tower. Bumblebee landed the ship at the airport, where Optimus and his crew were waiting.

"Thanks for returning the ship," he told Bee.

"Glad to be your parking valet!" he said. "Wish it was under better circumstances, though." He walked up to Sari and put his servo on her shoulder. "We'll find your dad, Sar!"

"Thanks, Bee," she smiled.

"Alright, Autobots," said Optimus, "let's board and take off!" And taking the helm, Optimus got on the comm to the control tower. "Detroit, this is the Ark-32, preparing to take off."

"Roger, Ark-32, you are cleared for takeoff." And Optimus piloted their ship into the sky towards Lake Erie.

* * *

Inside the Decepticon ship, Isaac was sitting in his holding cell. He couldn't believe his foolishness, putting his trust in Alisa. "Once again, Isaac, you have been caught for a stooge," he thought. "First with Megatron, now with Alisa. When will I learn, oh, when will I gain some street sense?" He glared at Alisa, sitting just beyond the force field holding him in. "I hope they come and get you, Decepticon! I hope my Sari will be the one to tear you apart!" he thought.

She was at the ship's console communicating with Swindle. "Everything is going according to plan," she told him.

"Wonderful, my dear!" he replied. "Any word from the Autobots? And any sightings of the Technorganic?"

"Nothing yet. And the Technorganic Sari has been on the moon, or at Cybertron, from what I can gather, talking to this human. I have not seen her since I've been working at his company."

Isaac overheard the conversation. "What…? They know nothing about Sari's Spark transplant into an Autobot body! They still think she's a technorganic?" Isaac wondered whether he could use their ignorance to some advantage. "I'm not a very good liar. I hope I can keep a cover story straight," he worried, and tried to concoct a solid one.

"Maybe you can find out something from the good Professor," said Swindle.

"How about it, Isaac?" asked Alisa. "Care to tell us where Sari is?"

"Like I would tell you anything!" he said. Then he had a thought to throw them off. Speaking angrily, he said "Have you seen her? Do you think she's here on earth? If she was here, wouldn't we be seen together at Sumdac Tower?"

Alisa smiled. "Well, thank you, Isaac! That gives us some idea." She turned back to Swindle. "So, evidently, the Technorganic's away, probably on Cybertron."

Isaac tried his best to not smirk.

* * *

As the Ark-32 hovered over Sandusky Bay, Arcee botted the sensors, trying to detect the presence of the Decepticon ship. "I'm not picking up any readings, Optimus," she told him.

"Either they are not there, or they have some type of cloaking device," he responded.

"That may explain why we didn't detect the presence of the ship on Farside Beacon One until it was practically right over us," said Bumblebee.

"Either that, or the software was corrupted by Alisa," said Sari. "My father had put her in charge of both the Sumdac Tower shield and the long-range sensor programs."

"Could be both," said Ratchet. "Cloaking device, and software corruption."

"Sari and I might be able to locate the ship by Processor Over Matter," said Jazz.

"Make it so," said Optimus. And the Cyber-Ninjas got into Lotus Position, meditating in the center of the Autobot ship, as it hovered over the deepest point of Sandusky Sub-Basin.

They spread their Spark senses out down to the depths of the lake, spreading out through its entire length, width, and depth, deep down past the floor. Both Cyber-Ninjas communicated to each other silently through their Sparks.

"Sari, I think I'm detecting Spark presences," said Jazz.

"Yes, I as well, Sensei. I'm also sensing a human heartbeat." Her Spark began quickening.

"Calm, Sari, calm. I know, I know. We will use this information to assist our efforts. But patience. Let us first gather more information."

"Yes, Sensei." She calmed her Spark. They continued to gather information on the ship, its systems, abilities, and weaponry.

After a short while, Jazz communicated back to her. "We should be able to disable their ship's offensive and defensive abilities, Sari. Turn them off, one at a time, but we must be very selective, otherwise they will be alerted to our efforts."

"Let's start with their ability to scan for Autobot ships." Jazz could see that they currently were aware of the Ark-32.

"Sari, alter their system. Make it look like we are leaving."

Sari entered their scanning system. "Done, Sensei."

* * *

On the Decepticon ship, Thunderblast had been monitoring the sensors, watching the Ark-32. Suddenly, it showed the Autobot ship leaving.

"Thundercracker! They're leaving!" She said.

"Well, of course! Stupid Autobots, they think they can locate us? They've given up! My genius picked this spot!"

"The cloaking device from Swindle helped!" said Alisa.

"Silence, wench! A minor detail. Only my superior intelligence was able to find this location."

Isaac fell back in his cot, dejected. "No! You were so close!"

Alisa turned to him. "Aw, feeling bad, Isaac? You'd better hope they deliver your daughter, or you'll be feeling a lot worse!"

Isaac picked up his plate of food and threw it at her. "I don't care what you do to me!" he yelled. "You'll never get your filthy hands on my daughter!"

Alisa flew into a rage, her silvery face full of hate and disgust, red optics flaring. She thrust one of her pointed appendages at him, striking the wall inches from his neck. "Do that again and I'll deliver you back to the Autobots one piece at a time, Technorganic or no!" she screamed.

"Alisa? Let's keep our emotions in check shall we?" said Thunderblast. "We keep to Swindle's plan, mmmkay?"

"Shut up, water witch!" snarled Alisa, and walked away.

"And Professor, you seem well fed as it is," said Thunderblast, "I think that will be your last meal."

Isaac fell back against the wall of his cell. A tear came to his eye. "Oh, Sari, please come back," he thought.

**So the crew of the Ark-32, thanks to the efforts of the Cyber-Ninjas, has located the Decepticon ship that is holding Sari's father. And now Jazz and Sari are silently disabling its capabilities. Soon, the Autobots should be able to engage the ship in battle, but they also have to make sure that Isaac is safely rescued! Thanks for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

**The Autobots are on the Ark-32, preparing to rescue Isaac and attack the Decepticon Ship.**

Using Processor-Over-Matter, Jazz and Sari proceeded to disarm all of the sensing systems on the Decepticon ship, after giving them all false negatives so that its display panels presented no alerts. The enemy ship thus rendered blind, they moved on to disabling all of their defensive and offensive systems. Once that was done, the Ark-32 dove into Lake Erie and slowly settled right beside them undetected. Secured on the lake bottom, the Autobots assembled in the conference room to plan their next move.

"Objective number one is the rescue of Professor Sumdac," said Optimus. "Capture and/or eradication of the Decepticons is objective number two. Now, how can we accomplish this?"

"There is a Cyber-Ninja tactic available to us," said Jazz, "Phase-shifting."

"Phase-shifting? The ability to pass through solid objects?" said Ratchet. "I've heard of it, but the only Autobot who was capable of it to my knowledge was Master Yoketron."

"Do you have this ability, Jazz?" asked Optimus.

"No, but I have no doubt that Sari does." All bots turned to Sari.

"Me, Sensei? But how?"

"Sari, phase-shifting is a very advanced Cyber-Ninja technique. As Ratchet indicated, only Master Yoketron mastered it. However, I am convinced that with the extraordinary skills you have already developed, you can do this. Interestingly enough, it is an ability that is only available to Autobots."

"Only Autobots? Why is that?"

"Because it is a skill that uses the Autobot T-Cog, and being in an Autobot body, you possess the capability."

"Are you sure I am ready, Sensei? I'm not yet a full Cyber-Ninja."

"I can help you," he responded. "With phase-shifting, you will be able to pass into the Decepticon ship."

"Then if Sari can phase-shift into the Decepticon ship, she can rescue her father and bring him back here. Let's plan the rescue," said Optimus.

Arcee clicked some keys on her console and brought up a large three-dimensional schematic of the Decepticon ship. "Here is the entire ship, with all of its levels and rooms."

"Jazz and Sari have quietly disabled their cloaking device," Arcee continued, "so I am now able to keep track of everyone's movements." Arcee then overlaid the schematic with a real-time sensor display that showed the movement and position of every being on the ship.

"Your father is being held here in one of the cells up on the control room," she said, pointing to a small white icon that represented Isaac. "You can see another similar-sized cell just to the left; presumably that's where they were planning to put you, Sari. That large blue icon is Thundercracker; the gold one is Thunderblast, and the small silver icon is Alisa."

"Another cell for me? Wait a minute – are you suggesting they were never planning to release my father? They were going to hold both of us?"

"It wouldn't surprise me, Sari," said Ratchet. "The Deceptislimes can never be trusted."

"After they had you, it wouldn't surprise me if they planned to keep the Professor for ransom as a way of extorting money from Sumdac Systems," suggested Optimus. That enraged Sari even more!

"I've been observing their movements over the last megacycle; it would appear that they spend most of their time in the upper deck," continued Arcee.

"If that's the case, then suppose Sari phase-shifted into the lower hold of the ship? That would probably be the safest place to arrive," said Bumblebee.

"That makes sense," said Jazz, studying the schematic. Then, what you can do is move up these stairs until you arrive at this point Sari," he said, pointing to a storage area right behind her father's cell. "Phase-shift through the locked door and get up to the wall next to where your father is being held."

"Got it," she said.

"You and I will remain in constant communication throughout the rescue mission," said Arcee, "and I will give you regular updates on everyone's location. Move as quickly and silently as you can."

"We will follow your progress through the Decepticon ship and once you arrive in the storage area and are at the wall, we will be ready," said Optimus. "Here's the plan: once Arcee gives you the word, we will initiate an attack on the ship, and at that same moment, while the Decepticons are confused, you phase-shift into your father's cell, grab him, and the two of you phase-shift back through the wall and work your way down to the lower deck. Then, transform into your alt-mode and with him safely inside, phase-shift back here to the Ark-32."

"Any questions?"

"No, sir."

"Speaking of communication, is there any way of contacting Sari's father?" asked Ratchet. "If he knew of our rescue, he could be ready when she appears in his cell."

"Sari has a Spark-heart link with him," said Jazz. "She can attempt to reach him through meditation."

"Sari, see if you can contact him," said Optimus. "Let him know we are planning a rescue, and to be prepared."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Inside the Decepticon ship, all was quiet. Isaac was lying on his cot, face to the wall, miserable. The light was constantly on, so sleep was always difficult. All he could think about was how close the Autobot ship had been, before it turned away.

Suddenly though, he got a strange sensation in his head. He could feel the presence of Sari, as if she was somehow nearby. "Sari?" he called out softly. He shook his head. "No, no, it's just exhaustion," he thought. But the presence kept coming back, stronger with each passing second. Then a voice came to him. "Dad? Dad? It's Sari, reaching out to you through Cyber-Ninja meditation."

"Sari?" he thought, and instinctively started to reach out his arm. "Yes, Dad. Don't speak out loud. Don't give away what is happening."

"No, Sari, no," he thought, and put his arm down. "Oh Sari, I am so happy to hear from you!"

"Me too, Dad. But this must be very quick. Listen. We are planning a rescue. Our ship is very close, but the Decepticons are unaware. I will be entering their ship using a Cyber-Ninja skill called phase-shifting. I will pass through the wall of your cell and take you away. You must be ready, but don't let on that you know."

"OK, Sari, I will be ready."

"When the time is right, and it will be very soon, I will take you, and then the Autobots will attack their ship. I love you!"

"I love you, my Sari!"

Sari left his presence, and Isaac sat up, wiping his eyes. Thunderblast saw this and remarked, "Oh look, the human is weeping over his upcoming execution! Isn't that sweet!"

Isaac glared at her, but said nothing.

* * *

"Ready, Sari?" said Jazz.

"Ready, Sensei."

"Then let us begin." And the two Cyber-Ninjas sat down on the deck of the Ark-32 and got into Lotus position while the rest of the crew observed. Jazz and Sari went into deep meditation. He joined her Spark. "I will remain here, Sari, but I will assist you constantly with phase-shifting, so do not be concerned. I will be constantly by your side."

"Yes, Sensei," she responded. A few cycles passed.

"Now, you are ready," he told her Spark. "When you approach a solid object, communicate with your T-Cog, and it will allow you to pass through it. Go ahead and get up." And Sari got up and walked towards the hull of the Ark-32. Jazz remained in Lotus position the entire time, meditating.

She walked over to the hull of the ship, and surrounded by a thin blue light, passed through it into the waters of Lake Erie! "Whoa!" said Bumblebee. "Now, that was kinda creepy!"

As soon as Sari left the hull of the Ark-32, she had to jump off, and she then sank down until she landed on the bed of the lake. "I'm at the lake bottom," she said through her comm. "I'm walking towards the Decepticon ship."

"Alright, Sari," said Arcee. "The best place to enter the bottom deck will be towards the aft, to your left."

"Acknowledged." She looked up at the ship, and once she reached the aft section, jumped up, phase-shifting into the hull and landed on the bottom deck. "I'm here on the bottom deck."

"We can see you," said Arcee. "You are the only one on that level. Everyone else is on the command deck. Begin making your ascent." And Sari started climbing the stairs.

On the command deck of the Decepticon ship, Thundercracker said to Thunderblast, "go downstairs and do an inventory on the energon supplies. We'll need them for the return trip."

"Sure thing, dearie," and she got up to head downstairs.

"Sari! Thunderblast is headed your way!" said Arcee. Phase-shift into the decontamination unit to your left!" And Sari quickly went through the locked door and hid in the unit just as Thunderblast stepped onto the lower deck.

"She's gone into the energon storage room, down the corridor from where you are," Arcee told Sari. "I'll let you know when she's returned to the command deck."

Thunderblast completed her inventory and headed back up top. As soon as she was back on the command deck level, Arcee gave Sari the all-clear. She phase-shifted out of the decontamination unit and went up the stairs.

She reached the storage area and went through the locked door. "Uh oh," Sari said to Arcee. "There are a lot of things in here. Not much room for me to move around, and the wall facing my Dad's cell is stacked with containers all the way to the top."

"Alright," said Optimus, "so she can't go right up to the wall. We'll start the attack, and she'll have to phase-shift through the containers and the wall. Will that be a problem?"

"Sari, do you think you'll have a problem going through both the containers and the wall to reach your father?" asked Arcee.

"No, I can make it through both."

"Then that's what we will do," she replied. "Standby for the rescue, on my mark." And Sari stood ready.

Back on the command deck, Thundercracker was getting restless. "Why have we not heard from the Autobots? Are they this stupid?"

"Perhaps we should contact them," said Alisa.

"I just had a brilliant thought! We should contact them!" said Thundercracker.

"Of course," said Alisa, sarcastically, "only your genius would come up with such a plan."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Said Thundercracker…

"Sari!" said Arcee, "Mark!"

"Make it…"

[Huge explosion]

"What was that?" said Thunderblast.

"A blast? But from where?" said Alisa.

"Starboard!" said Thundercracker.

Just then, Sari appeared in Isaac's cell. He looked up at her. "Sari!" he accidentally called out. She grabbed him and picked him up.

"Sari?" said Alisa, and turned in time to see Sari in the cell. "What the…? INTRUDER!" and thrust one of her pointed appendages at Sari, but she had phase-shifted away and it struck the back of the cell wall. Alisa ran out of the command center towards the storage, and saw Sari running down the stairs carrying Isaac.

"Optimus, Alisa is chasing Sari!" Said Arcee.

"Their ship is defenseless! Aim all weapons at the command deck!" said Optimus. And Ratchet and Bumblebee fired on the command deck.

Alisa fired her blaster at Sari, who managed to duck behind a support beam to avoid the attack. She returned fire with her orb, but Alisa slithered away into a corner. "Sari! She's gone down another corridor to meet you at the next corner!" said Arcee. Sari put Isaac down. "Get behind me, Dad!" And she combined her servos together into a single blaster. "Here she comes!" yelled Arcee. The moment Alisa turned the corner, Sari hit her with her largest, most powerful orb. It was the same size as Alisa, and pushed her back towards the rear of the ship. Alisa screamed at the intense heat of the orb as it seared her Spark chamber. Her appendages flapped helplessly on either side as it propelled her chassis into each support beam, until it crushed her flat against the hull. The orb then exploded as it blew out the entire stern of the ship, sending waves of lake water into the bottom deck.

"Dad, quickly, get in!" said Sari, as she transformed into her alt mode and opened the passenger door. He got in and Sari shut the door just as the wall of water came rushing over her car.

"Sari! Are you and your father all right?" asked Arcee.

"We're OK," said Sari from her dashboard.

"More than OK, Arcee," said Isaac. "I am back with my wonderful daughter."

"Glad to hear that, Professor."

"Returning to the Ark-32," said Sari leaving the wreckage of the Decepticon ship. "Should I phase-shift in, or can we enter through the hatch?"

"Go ahead and use the hatch," said Optimus. "The Decepticon ship is completely destroyed, and Thundercracker and Thunderblast are gone as well."

* * *

Later, there was some confusion about the status of the Decepticon crew.

"Alisa? Come in. Alisa?" Swindle had not heard back from his posse. It had been two solar cycles, and no word on whether the Technorganic Sari Sumdac had been turned over. "Maybe their comm system went down," he sighed. I knew I should have bargained for the higher grade system from that Halonian trader." I'll try later.

* * *

Back at Autobot Central, the Autotroopers were picking up Shortround, to bring him to Trypticon Prison. Sari had brought Mr. Wyatt in to see him off. "Good riddance, you!" he said as they carried Shortround away. "And never return!" He then turned to Autobot Central's newest member. "And thank you, Sari, for helping rebuild my Toy Store."

"It was my pleasure, Derrick," she told him. "When I was little, your store was my absolute favorite place," she winked.

"I remember you, Sari!" he said. "You were little then. My, how you've grown!" he teased.

"Ha!" she laughed. "Good one!"

"Well, listen, you are welcome in my store anytime, in whatever body you're in – Autobot or Technorganic!" and he reached up to shake her digit.

"We'll make sure Shortround never comes back!" and Sari returned the shake, digit to hand. She then transformed and brought Mr. Wyatt back to his toy store.

"Goodbye, Derrick!"

"Goodbye, Sari!" he waved, "Thanks again!" And Sari returned to Autobot Central.

* * *

Later that day, the Autobots had a meeting in Optimus' conference room to discuss the mission.

"Well, that leaves one Decepticon on the loose," said Ratchet.

"We'll have to keep an eye out for Lugnutz," said Optimus. "He must be keeping a low profile. I assume word's gotten out what happened to his partners."

"Do you think he'll try to get in contact with Swindle?" asked Sari.

"Maybe," said Arcee. "But all alone, I doubt he'd be able to accomplish much. And I have a feeling Swindle wouldn't take too kindly to the fact that while all this was going on, Lugnutz was just lying low. If he had a lick of sense, he'd avoid getting back with his ex-boss."

"Doing the minimum required and getting out's his style," said Ratchet. "He just does jobs to keep himself in energon, and once that's over, he ups and quits. He's a rogue."

"Well, that's all for this status report," said Optimus. "Sari, I understand you have an appointment?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, don't let us keep you. Have a good time!" And Sari excused herself from the group and transformed, driving over to Sumdac Tower. She pulled up to the main driveway.

"Hi Dad!"

"Hello, my Sari! Mind if I get in?" She opened her passenger door. "Wouldn't be a proper picnic if you didn't!" She slid the passenger door forward so he could put his basket in the back, then she opened the driver's door. "Care to 'drive'?"

"Why yes, that would be very nice!" and he got behind the wheel as she closed the doors. They drove to Kensington Metro Park. When they arrived, Sari transformed to bipedal mode and sat down on the grass next to Isaac. He unpacked his picnic basket and sat down.

"This is nice, Sari. Just the two of us. It was as close as I could think of getting us to our Burger Bot lunches."

"I like it too, Dad. It's OK that I can't share your picnic meal. That's not the nicest part of our lunches, anyway. The best part was always just spending time with you."

"And that's all I thought about while the Decepticons were holding me, Sari: not being able to see you again. But I would sacrifice that, in fact, I would sacrifice my life, if it meant keeping you out of their filthy hands!"

"Dad, all I thought about was rescuing you. In fact, Jazz had to help me calm down, because I was so anxious it was becoming counterproductive. But the Autobots all came together, and we put rescuing you number one!"

"And you did that, that - what did you call it? Phase-shifting? My goodness, that was strange! When you grabbed me, I was passing through walls!"

"You know what? That's a Cyber-Ninja technique that can be done only by an Autobot! Technorganics can't do it!"

Isaac thought about that. "So if you were not in this body, you could not do that? Incredible."

They both sat silently for a few minutes, looking out at Kent Lake. "It's beautiful out here," Sari said. "So peaceful. Thank you for suggesting it."

"My pleasure, my dear."

"Hey, your lunch is getting cold."

"Not important."

**So ends this rescue, and this battle with the Decepticons. Sari was able to learn how to use her Autobot body in a new way, and get her father out of the clutches of some nasty enemies! Thanks for reading.**


	8. Chapter 8

**After defeating the Decepticons and rescuing her father, Sari's got a job to do on the top of Sumdac Tower and Farside Beacon One: repairing the tower's shield and the station's long-range scanner software. The Decepticon Pretender Alisa had corrupted both.**

"Good morning, Dad!" said Sari as she stepped off the freight elevator onto the roof of Sumdac Tower.

"Good morning, my dear! Thanks for your assistance today. I'm afraid Alisa's really mucked up my shield software," Isaac said angrily. "I've been looking through the code and I see where she was able to make it seem like Thundercracker was causing it to fail. Oh, Sari, I'm such a fool for trusting her!" He slammed his fist against the wall.

"Don't blame yourself, Dad," said Sari. "She was an expert spy. It was her job to weasel her way into a high position and use social engineering to gain her victim's trust. She had millions of years to hone her skills."

"Thank you, Sari. Still, I feel so embarrassed for being so trusting." He held his head down.

"But that's one of the things that I love about you, Dad! Trust is a good thing! You trust the Autobots, right? You trust your business partners – you trust yourself; you trust me?" She knelt down next to him.

He looked up into her optics. "Oh, my Sari, of course I trust you! How could I not?"

"And you yourself are a trustworthy person! Look at how you have vowed to always use your company to build things for peaceful purposes only – and you have kept your word! Optimus and the Autobots know they can trust you!"

"Thank you, my dear!" he said. "You always know the right thing to say."

"Now, let us go about getting rid of this Decepticon's treachery!" And he rubbed his hands together.

"You got it, Dad!" and getting up, Sari stepped over to the Autobot's control panel, while Isaac went to his station. Sari placed her digits over the keyboard, and the prods came out as she entered the Sumdac Tower's systems. Her optics changed from blue/white to all white as she became one with the shield's inner workings.

"I'm inside the system, Dad. What have you uncovered so far?"

"Have a look at the routine that maintains the force field. Look at what she's done to it!"

"I see where she had altered the system. Let me fix that." And Sari restored the code to a prior version. "Check it now and see if it matches up to the rest of your systems."

"Sari, I can't get into my repository. Alisa locked me out with some kind of passkey."

"Working that now." And glowing blue, the encryption mods on top of her helm became engaged, as they broke Alisa's Decepticon passkeys.

"Alright, I've broken her locks, and assigned a temporary password of 'Sumdac'. Log in with that and change it."

"Got it. Thank you!" And together, they completed the restoration of the shield system.

"OK Dad, I think we're done. Let me get out, and we can fire it up." She exited out of the system and returned to the control panel. Her prods retracted back into her digits, and her optics changed back from white to blue/white. "Let's give it a go!"

Isaac turned it on, and together, they watched the output. "Looks good, Sari. I'll run a full diagnostic later on, but I think we've got it licked. Wonderful work!"

"OK, next for me is Farside Beacon One. I'll fix their long-range scanning software."

And Isaac turned over to the space bridge controls and turned it on. "Farside Beacon One, this is Sumdac Tower; one to transport."

"Roger, Sumdac Tower; Sandstorm here. Firing up space bridge now. Who are we expecting?"

"Sari arriving to work on your long-range scanner," Isaac replied.

"10-4, Sumdac Tower. Space bridge ready to receive her," Sandstorm said.

The huge blue orb formed between the space bridge tines above the Sumdacs, and Isaac gave Sari the thumbs-up. "Ready when you are; see you later, my dear!"

"Bye Dad!" and she jumped in.

* * *

"Hi, Sandstorm!" Sari said as she landed on the lunar space bridge platform.

"Hello again, Sari! Thanks for coming to fix our software. Bumblebee said you have a 'mojo' mod that'll get out all of Alisa's changes."

Sari smiled. "That's what we call it, yes. Glad to help!" And exiting the platform, she proceeded to enter the station.

"Sari! Good to see you again," said Major Fanzone. "Appreciate the service call," he smiled.

"Glad to help, Major! Say, where's Bumblebee?" she asked, looking around.

"He's over inspecting the new power plant," said Firestar. "He won't be back until much later."

"Ah. Bummer. Well, I think I'll drive over there when I'm done and pay him a visit," she replied.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate the company," said Fanzone, "it's still under construction, and the place is deserted."

"So, how can we be of assistance?" he asked her.

"Well, to begin," she told the crew, "in order for me to initiate the repairs, you're going to have to shut the long-range sensor down. So that means you'll need to be manually scanning the skies for any incoming astral bodies or enemy ships."

"Roger," said Fanzone. "Let's get started, everyone." He directed the human crew to begin the manual scanning, while the bots started shutting down the long-range scanner.

* * *

"Long-range systems shut down, Sari," said Firestar, "ready for your mod." And Sari approached the Autobot control panel. She sat down at one of the desks and placed her servos above the panel. Her digits opened up and the prods penetrated the keyboard. Immediately her optics went from blue/white to all white and she began "seeing" the internal workings of the long-range scanning systems.

"Whoa," she told the group. "This Decepticon chick put her code changes into pretty much every module. I'd recommend this whole version be removed, and reverted back to a prior one. When did Alisa start working for Sumdac Systems?"

"Three months ago," said Fanzone, and he gave her the exact hire date.

"Alright," said Sari. "I'm reverting the system back to before that time." And Sari started planning to remove all of Alisa's changes.

"Uh oh. I'm detecting some 'fail safe' code bombs here," Sari continued. "But of course. Devious little witch, wasn't she? This will take a little longer than I thought. Is your team OK with continuing the manual scanning for a while, Major?"

"We can go on as long as is necessary, Sari," he answered. "No worries; you do what you have to do."

"Alright, let me first work on removing these little software detonations, then I can go about restoring a prior version." And Sari proceeded to go into the extra routines Alisa had planted, being careful to remove them one by one. She went in reverse order of installation, to make sure that removing one didn't set off another. The procedure took several cycles, until she was satisfied they were all removed.

"Alright, the code bombs are gone," she announced. Let me do a clean sweep of the rest of the system to make sure she didn't plant any surprises elsewhere." After making sure that all of Alisa's changes were completely gone, and satisfied that everything was completely in sync, she restored the system from the backup that had been made three months prior. She then exited out of the long-range scanning system and returned to the control panel. Her prods retracted back into her digits, and her optics changed back from white to blue/white. She sat back in the chair. "Done," she told the group. "Start up the long-range scanner, and let's see if there are any problems."

Firestar started it back up, and everyone watched the control panel to see if any errors came. "Looks good from here, Sari," she told her.

"That's a relief," said Fanzone. "Great job. Thanks!"

The long-range scanner now displayed:

**ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL  
**Object(s) Detected: None  
Number: n/a  
Estimated Time of Impact: n/a  
Probability of Impact: n/a  
Projected Impact Distance (Km): n/a  
Projected Coordinates: n/a

"We'll run a full series of tests to make sure everything's back operating properly," Major Fanzone told her.

"I'll remain here for another couple of days, Major, in case you run into any glitches," she told him.

"Appreciate it, Sari."

"I've got a room for you in the Autobot quarters," said Firestar. Let me show you where it is." And she led Sari down the hall to the Autobot end of the station.

"My first time back here as an Autobot," Sari told Firestar. "Looks a lot smaller!" she laughed.

Firestar chuckled. "I guess it would be so! I can imagine how different things around here would look to me if I found myself in a Technorganic body, Sari!" she smiled back. "Here we are," she motioned, and opened the door to Sari's room. "Thanks again for your help!"

"You are welcome, Firestar! And thanks for the temporary quarters. Glad we got things back in order."

* * *

After leaving Farside Beacon One, Sari transformed and took off on the lunar surface for the power plant to pay a visit to Bumblebee.

Approaching the plant, she spied him sitting on a nearby rock. "What's he doing over there?" she wondered. As she got closer, she saw that he was looking up at the sky.

She drove up to where he was sitting. "Hey, Bee! What 'cha doing out here?"

Bumblebee turned around to see the sports car driving up to him. "Oh, hey, Sar! So nice to see you! I'm just sitting here, looking up at the stars. They're so beautiful up here on the moon." She transformed and sat down beside him.

"Looking up at the stars?"

"Oh yeah! When we were on earth, it was a lot harder, what with the thick atmosphere and all. And then, the lights of Detroit made it even harder. Here, it's like it was when Bulkhead and I were working on asteroids."

"Look at that star right there!" he said, showing her a particular one. "See? It's in the constellation Pisces. Its name is 19 Piscium. Look how red it is!"

He put his servo back down. "It's a cool thing, just sitting here, looking out at all of them."

"I know, Bee! When I was stationed here on the moon, I loved looking at the stars. There was a flat rock near Farside Beacon One I used to go over to and lay on. I loved to just gaze out at them, they just POP out at you!" she said, waving her servos out to the wide open sky, digits wiggling.

She looked at Bee, amazed. "I didn't know you did, too!"

"Oh yeah, Sar! I've always loved looking at them."

They sat together gazing up at the sky. Sari put her arms down, and her servo absent-mindedly rested on Bumblebee's. "Oh, sorry!" she said, taking it back, slightly embarrassed.

He looked at her, smiling. "Hey, no one noticed but me!" Looking over, her optics met his. She smiled back. "It's nice to know we have this in common, Bee." And looking back up at the sky, she took her servo and holding on to his side, started to pull herself closer. He reached around and put his servo on her shoulder.


	9. Chapter 9

**Farside Beacon One is beginning to wonder about Bumblebee and Sari. They've been over at the power plant site for quite a while…**

"Hey, has anyone heard from Bumblebee?" asked Sandstorm.

"It has been a while," said Major Fanzone. "I had assumed he was busy inspecting the power plant. Maybe he invited Sari to look around with him."

Sandstorm gave a quick glance at the other bots and gave a little smile. "Yeah, they're probably busy inspecting the plant," he muttered in Cybertronian. The other bots chuckled.

Fanzone got on his comm. "Bumblebee, Fanzone here. What's your 20?"

"Hey, Major. We're still at the plant. Sari and I will be headed back to base soon. ETA one megacycle," said Bumblebee.

"Roger, Bumblebee. Fanzone out."

* * *

"Well, Sar, I guess we had better head back in. They're starting to ask about us," said Bee.

"Aw, so soon?" Sari protested. The two had been walking around the power plant, holding servos.

"Yeah, duty calls," he smiled. He stopped and took her servos in his. "Thanks for coming out here to see me, Sari. You always brighten my day."

"Me, too, Bee," she smiled back.

They stood there alone on the lunar surface, gazing into each other's optics. Bumblebee leaned over toward Sari, and her face met his as they exchanged a kiss, after which came an embrace. "I love you Bee," she said. "I love you, Sar," he replied.

"Alright," she sighed, "let's go." And transforming, they prepared to head back. "Race ya!" said Sari.

"Hey, you think you can beat me? Girl, I'm the fastest thing on wheels!" And together they sped off across the lunar landscape.

The race back to the station was neck and neck. Bumblebee's yellow car was fast, but Sari's blue sports car was an even match. Bee started pulling ahead.

"Hey, Bee!" yelled Sari, "Check your mirrors!"

"What?" He looked behind. "I don't see anything."

"That's right!" She laughed, as she sped around him.

"Hey! No fair!"

* * *

"Uh, Major? I'm getting an alert about two objects speeding towards us," said one of the Airmen monitoring the ground sensors.

Fanzone got on his comm. "Bumblebee, is that you and Sari headed toward the station?"

"Affirmative, Major," said Bumblebee. "We're, uh, heading inbound, as quickly as we can," he replied.

Sandstorm and the other bots chuckled. "I wonder who's gonna win," he said.

Unfortunately for Bumblebee, that little communication took his concentration off of the race, giving Sari the edge. Heading for the final stretch, she put the pedal to the metal.

"Oh, no you don't!" Said Bee, and came up from behind. Soon, they were neck and neck – or rather, bumper to bumper, once again.

The station loomed ever closer, and Sari became a little concerned. "OK, Bee, where's the checkered flag?"

"Uh, hmmm," he stammered.

"Better come up with one fast – or we're gonna crash into something!"

"OK, OK – space bridge!" And they both slammed on the brakes, skidding towards the final stop, and throwing up clouds of lunar dust. There were no witnesses, but had there been any, they would have announced the race a dead heat.

"So…who won?" asked Sari.

"Tie?"

"Deal!" And Sari transformed. "Shall we head on in?"

"Yep!" Said Bee, and transforming, walked over to Sari and put his arm around her shoulder as they headed toward the entrance. "You're really good at driving that sports car, Sar!" He smiled. Then looking at her, he asked, "How long have you been in that Autobot body, anyway?"

"A couple orbital cycles."

"Well, hey, I love you in whatever body you're in, Sari. But, whichever one you eventually decide to keep, it'll be OK with me."

"But…you like this one, don't you?" She teased, bumping him with her hip.

"I…I refuse to answer that question, on the grounds it might incriminate me."

"Fair enough," she laughed.

They entered the command center together. "How's the scanner working, Major?" asked Sari.

"Performing at 100%, Sari, thanks!" he replied. "We ran a full series of tests and no errors cropped up."

"Glad to hear it!"

"So how does the power plant look?" asked Fanzone.

"Foundation is excellent, and the basic structure is ready for the support structures," said Bumblebee. "I think it's time to contact Cybertron to get the bots here to begin working on the infrastructure."

"Excellent! Let's discuss the details at our status meeting tomorrow. Say, Sari, I have an idea! We'll be going over the schematics for the IT systems support. You did all the same type of work on Farside Beacon One. Since you'll be here for a few days, would it be all right for us to give you the specs for the power plant and get your input?"

"I'd be glad to take a look," she replied. "It appears that the long-range sensors are working, so reviewing the specs for the plant will give me something to do."

"Then it's a plan! Airman Smith, forward the IT systems support schematics to Sari's workstation so she can review them," said Fanzone. Turning to Sari, he said "Really appreciate your optics on the design!"

"My pleasure!" she smiled.

* * *

Later that evening, Sari was in her quarters in the Autobot section, studying the specs at her workstation monitor, when she received a knock on her door.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Sari? It's Firestar."

Sari opened her door. "Hey, Firestar, what's up?"

Firestar was all excited. "Oh, Sari! I had to give you the news! I've been accepted at the Protihex Medical Mechanics University!"

"Oh, Firestar, that's wonderful!" Sari gave her a hug. "Congratulations! I know that's been your career goal. We've got to let Ratchet know."

"I just talked with Bumblebee. He said he's sorry to see me go, but then he told me that when I graduate, there just might be an opening for me back here at Farside. Wouldn't that be great?"

"I'd love to have you back here as the station's medic, Firestar! You'd be terrific!"

"Oh, hey, Sari," said Firestar, closing the door to her quarters, "speaking of Bumblebee, I have to tell you something."

"What's that?" Sari raised an optic.

"Well…" Firestar hesitated, looking for the right words. "Let's sit down." Sari sat on her bed, looking a little concerned, while Firestar sat at the desk chair.

Firestar sighed. "OK. There was a shuttle craft flying overhead earlier today, with a couple of bots on board. They were doing spectral analysis of the lunar surface for mineral deposits. They just happened to be passing over the site where you and Bumblebee were, and…"

"Oh, no!" Sari blushed. "You mean…?"

"Hey, not that there's anything wrong with it!" said Firestar, putting up her palms. "It's not like Bumblebee's your superior, so no concerns there at all."

"And, just between us, femme to femme," she smiled, "I think it's nice! Bumblebee's a great mech, and if I were to think of the perfect set of sparkmates, it'd be you two!"

"Thanks!" Sari looked back and gave an awkward smile. Still, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed; she'd assumed their time together way over there was alone; now, it's probably topic number one on the moon!

"I guess this has gone out to all the bots?" she asked, betraying a slight cringe in her face.

Firestar sighed. "I'm afraid so."

Sari lowered her helm and did a facepalm. "Oh, man…" Then looking back at Firestar, she asked, "do you think Bumblebee knows?"

"Haven't heard. Perhaps you should go talk to him."

"Oh no! Oh no!" she protested, shaking her helm, but then, coming to her senses, she sighed, "you're right, I should." She reached over and put her servo on Firestar's forearm. "Thanks for confiding in me – I appreciate it!"

"Hey, what are friends for?" she smiled. And wishing Sari luck, she headed back to her quarters.

Drawing up her courage, Sari walked over to Bumblebee's office. He was working on the plant project. She knocked on his door.

"Hey, Bee? Mind if I come in?"

"Sar? That you? Of course!" He opened the door and gave her a hug. "Come on in! What's up?"

She closed the door. "It's about today, and us being at the plant. Did you hear anything?"

He gave her a strange look. "No, why?"

"Oh. Well," she hesitated, "you see, some bots were in a shuttle flying over us, and, well, they saw us, and…"

"Oh, you mean…?"

"Yeah."

Bumblebee sighed. "I'm sorry, Sar. I guess word's gone out?"

"I'm afraid so."

Bumblebee shook his head. "Mechs are the worst gossipers! It's probably because there aren't that many fembots," he explained. "Jealousy, I guess."

"This won't affect your position here on Farside, will it?" Sari asked, concerned.

"Me? Nah," he shrugged. "I can handle myself." He took her servos in his. "I just don't want you to feel bad, Sar. How did you find out?"

"Firestar came to my quarters and told me in private."

"Aw, she's a good bot. By the way, she's going to Protihex! She'll make a great medic - I'm so proud of her!"

"I know, she told me! She's so excited - we've gotta tell Ratchet!"

"Hey! I've got an idea, why don't you two go down and let him know? I can arrange some furlough for her."

"Oh, Bee, that'd be great! Firestar will be thrilled to be able to tell him in person!" she reached over and gave him a kiss. "You're a terrific boss, you know that?"

"Sar, I could get used to hearing that more often!" he smiled.

**What's this? Bumblebee and Sari sparkmates? What precipitated this – was it the natural culmination of their relationship up to this point, or does it have anything to do with the fact that Sari is now in an Autobot body and "just like" Bumblebee? But if the latter, what will that mean once Sari's technorganic body is repaired and ready for her return? Will she want to abandon her Autobot shell and return to human size? But if she stays as an Autobot, that will mean she'll never be able to transform into "human" mode again.**

**These are things she'll have to struggle with, and decisions she'll have to make! Thanks for reading.**


End file.
